


One Small Detail

by Idris02



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idris02/pseuds/Idris02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen never returns to Seattle Grace, the merge takes place still but things go a little differently, all because he stayed away. Will Cristina admit her feelings for the new doctor, or will she stay back, he is a Mercy Wester after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**XX**

Cristina sat alone in Joe’s bar. Meredith and Derek had just left, their tiff was over, all he needed to do was apologise and bring her a kidney from today’s Domino Surgery. Damn. She really wanted a kidney, and she did ask first, oh well. Downing her drink she placed it on the counter, grabbed her coat and stood up.

“You leaving already?” asked Joe.

“There are no real men left in the world Joe” she replied, putting her coat on. She turned towards the door and headed out into the cold street, alone. As she slowly ascended the dirty concrete staircase, she wondered when she would find someone. Not some intern to sleep with but someone, her McDreamy. God, did she just think that.

She was adamant that she needed to forget about that, surgery made her happy, hearts made her happy, but never the emotional one. She didn’t need a man; she knew that already; although she did want to be happy like Mere. As she approached the curb, she pushed these thoughts to the back of her head and refused to acknowledge that they ever entered her mind.

_A few weeks later_

Cristina hated those annoying Mercy Westers. Parasites, that’s what Mere had called them, parasites that stole their surgeries and sucked up to the attendings. They were taking over the hospital in their ugly orange scrubs. She hated them; this was not their hospital. She especially hated Jackson Avery. That idiot who was sleeping with his friends daughter, she saved him; she saved him with proper medical attention. Although she saved his life, when the father charged at him in a rage and Jackson tackled him to the ground he got a standing ovation and the idiot, that she saved, wanted to thank him, for saving his life.

Raising her gaze from his patient file she scanned the ER, her glare quickly subsided when her eyes fell upon Jackson, causing her expression to quickly soften. A grin was plastered over his face as he sat beside some old lady’s bedside as he stitched up the gash on her arm. Even from afar, she could see his technique was flawless. It was becoming harder to hate him. He paused for a moment to adjust his stethoscope and Cristina found herself watching his every move with intense focus.

A single voice penetrated her thoughts, she quickly turned her attention away for Jackson, she swivelled to face Lexie who said, “I teased her about the diary.”

“Who?”

Holding up April Kepner’s red notebook Lexie stared at the ground in shame.

“Did she cry?” Cristina asked. A slight change in Lexie’s demeanour answered the question without any verbal acknowledgement. “Nice work, didn’t think you had it in you.” Cristina said with a chuckle, that was one point to them.

“Cristina!” Lexie said in a harsh tone, seemingly now mad at her. Inhaling sharply, Lexie pivoted and headed towards her patients room walking with purpose. With a smile still on Cristina’s lips, she turned to glance at Jackson.

She discovered that he had finished stitching up the old lady’s gash and had begun to slowly back away from her, to initiate the end of their tedious conversation. Her smile widened as she could see the obvious pain in his expression, this woman had probably talked him half to death no doubt about tales of her grandkids, causing him to retreat as fast as physically possible. Her smile was transitioning into a laugh when she realised he was heading towards and she suddenly felt, no. Cristina Yang did not blush. Crap. She quickly placed her patients file on the desk in front of her, turned and headed towards Mere’s room, she had to get him out of her head.

_A few hours later_

Well that didn’t work as well as she expected it to. Having talked to Mere about the Mercy Westers, not about Jackson though, she was now on her way to the Residents lounge to take a shower and change her scrubs, she hated being on call. She may have a messy locker and apartment, but she in herself was a neat person and she hated sleeping in dirty day old scrubs, when she could control it anyway. She had gotten Jackson out of her head, for now anyway, he was the enemy, but at least he wasn’t an intern.

She found the room empty, grabbing her stuff she headed to the shower. After 5 relaxing minutes of the warm water running over her she was now ready to get some sleep. She dried off quickly, got changed and pulled her wet hair into a bun as she headed towards the Residents lounge. Stuffing her stuff back in her cubbyhole, she heard the door open behind her. Without turning, she grabbed her pager from her cubbyhole she attached it to her scrubs and headed to the washing basket, dropping her towel in one and her dirty scrubs in the other. As she walked back to her cubbyhole, she could feel eyes on back, and somebody rustling around behind her.

“Dr Yang, right?” She turned to find Jackson Avery standing in front of her, looking him up and down she turned silently away from her.

Slowly exhaling, she grabbed her coat, and walked towards the door, “Yes.” She said as she shut the door behind her. With how she was currently feeling, she could not trust herself to be in a room alone with him for much longer. She couldn’t see it, but as she left, Jackson was watching her intently, with a strange look in his eyes.

_A few days later_

“Can I buy you a drink?” a voice behind her asked.

“Excuse me?” Cristina said turning around, to find Jackson standing directly behind her.

“Well uhm.” His confidence was broken as she was glaring into his eyes, he fidgeted slightly and tried to push through, “We uh, work together, today, we.” Her glare melted and slowly changed to pity, this gave him the push he needed, “We have been working together for a few days now, I was just.”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Cristina paid for her drinks, picked them up and headed towards the table where Mere was sitting waiting. She sat down and passed Mere her drink, “I can’t believe you are drinking water at a bar Mere.”

“Blame Lexie and her stupid don’t kill my daddy eyes. Now what was that about..” she gestured towards Jackson who was now standing alone at the bar.

Making sure her expression didn’t give away anything she turned to face Mere, took a sip of her drink and shrugged her shoulders, “Lonely Mercy Westers, no friends to chat to I guess.” Mere chuckled and looked down at her phone for about the millionth time in the last 5 minutes, “Just go.”

“But.” Cristina gave Mere a look, causing her to smile, grab her stuff and stand up, “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

Watching Mere walk out of the bar Cristina felt a wave of sadness wash over her, Mere was her soul mate but Derek was the love of her life, and he needed her now, he always seemed to; she hated having to share her person. She looked up to find that Jackson was no longer at the bar, but a quick scan of the bar discovered that he was playing a game of darts with Alex and Nose Dive. Sighing she got up and walked over to Alex.

Taking the darts out of Alex’s hand she nudged him out of her way and lined up her shot, “Yang, think you can beat me?” he quipped.

“$50 says I can.” Alex smiled, Cristina wasn’t like Mere with her ‘support’ but she came when she needed to, and was helping him with the Izzie thing in her own way. Twenty minutes later Cristina made her way towards the staircase, $50 richer and this time she knew that she had Jackson’s full attention, not her main aim, but subconsciously she didn’t doubt it was a motive. She smiled, knowing that the eyes she felt on her back were from him.

_A few days later_

Leaving the party, Cristina headed to her room with a beer in her hand, she wanted to escape the noise and have a moment to herself to just, breathe. She shut her bedroom door behind her, and looking up saw Jackson walking out of her bathroom with a drink in his hand, “Yang” he said with a smile on his face. God he had a gorgeous smile.

Walking towards her he kept talking, “Doctor, can I Cristina you? Or are we not there yet?” She looked up at him and shook her head. His smile was wiped from his face but he did his best to keep his composure. “No, okay. Doctor Yang.” Taking a deep breathe he was now only centimetres away from her. Taking a step closer, he continued to talk, “Let me just tell you that, that was incredibly hot in the OR yesterday.”

Cristina started to laugh, usually compliments didn’t affect her, but she could tell that Jackson was hitting on her, she could always tell, well excluding Mark Sloan. But Jackson was different, she liked the attention. Encouraged by her reaction he added, “Very, deeply hot. It was hot, you are hot.”

Raising her gaze from the ground Cristina looked up at Jackson again as he took another mouthful of beer, “Uh, you’re drunk and you’re in my room” she said with a tone of hopefulness in her voice, it had been a long time.

“I am in fact inebriated. That’s legal. And even if I wasn’t, you’re the rule breaker, which I think we established in surgery.”

Cristina watched him take another mouthful of beer as she replied, “Really you think that was hot?” with a slight smile on her face, and what Jackson perceived to be a look of eagerness. He put his beer down on her dresser he tried to guess what she was thinking. Biting his lip, he looked her up and down for a moment before answering her,

“Would it be really really bad if I just, you know because of the whole embolism thing and you in general…” Cristina placed her drink on the dresser, and by doing so placed herself between Jackson and a wall. “Can I just…” Jackson trailed off as her leant forward to kiss her.

He pushed her right up against the wall with his hands on her hips and she began to reciprocate, kissing his lips hungrily and running her hands up his arms, towards his shoulders and draping them around his neck. She moved her hips into his, amazed at how well they seemed to fit together, she began to slowly grind against them. Raising his hands slightly he played with the bottom of her shirt, rolling its fabric between his fingers as he slowly pulled it up, revealing her bare torso and then breaking their kiss for a moment, he pulled it over her head. He lowered his gaze to stare at what he just unwrapped, like presents on Christmas morning, he couldn’t decide what to unwrap next.

Cristina watched Jackson bite his lower lip as his eyes brushed over her, feeling like she deserved something in return, she unwrapped her hands from around his neck, lowered them down to his belt and with her dainty fingers, she expertly pulled Jackson’s shirt off and leant forward to kiss him. He lowered his hands to her belt and quickly unbuttoned her jeans, her hands met his and she whispered onto his mouth, “Take yours off.”

Nodding, he unbuttoned his jeans and took them off as fast as he could; he had been waiting for this for weeks. He then took off his shoes and socks and threw them onto of his jeans that were lying on the floor next to Cristina’s recently removed clothes.

Wrapping her arms around his neck again she pulled him in for a kiss and running her tongue along his lip, she quickly gained entry. His hands found their way down her torso, over her hips and to her upper thighs, pushing himself towards her more, he grabbed her just underneath her butt and lifted her off the floor. Without breaking their kiss, Cristina lifted her legs up and wrapped them around Jackson’s waist. Pushed against the wall, with her legs wrapped around him, her tongue in his mouth and his hands exploring her body she felt more comfortable than she had felt in a long time.

They remained there for a few minutes, kissing each other with passion and a need for something more, before Cristina broke the kiss, leant forward and whispered in his ear, “For this next part, it works better if we’re on a first name basis.” A smile crossed his lips as he walked backwards, turned and slowly lowered her onto the bed below him.

Knelling over her, he paused for a moment, “Cristina.” She grinned at the mention of her name. Utilising this moment she used her foot to knock his balance and as he tumbled, she rolled over on top of him. “Forever in control.” He quipped.

“Just how I like it.” She remarked as she leant down to resume kissing.

**XX**


	2. The Morning After

The sun shone through the window onto Cristina’s face. Squinting at the sun, she looked at the time, 5.27. Refusing to rise with the day, she rolled over, blindly placing her hand in front of her, having it unexpectedly land onto the bed. That woke her up. She opened her eyes completely now, staring at the empty bed lying in front of her. Sitting up she looked around her room. A single sheet covered her naked body; the rest of her bedding was sprawling on the floor at the foot of the bed. Her curtains were open, letting the sun stream in wishing her a good morning. They were shut last night, so Jackson must of opened them when he woke up, which meant that hopefully he was still here. Pillows were scattered over floor, and her room was more of a tip than usual; hard evidence that last night really happened, not a figment of her imagination, conjured up by her subconscious in her lonely, drunken state.

Her dresser had two empty beer bottles sitting next to each other; she smiled fondly at the memory of what happened shortly after their owners placed them there. Her gaze travelled down to the floor, causing her smile to widen as she saw the pile of clothes still lying on the floor. The only thing missing was Jackson’s jeans that lay underneath her jeans, keeping them company, his grey top however remained on the floor. Crawling over the mattress, she leant over to the end of the bed, grabbed his shirt off the ground. Oddly, she pulled it towards her face, inhaling before pulling it over her head, it smelt like him. Realising she was missing something she tumbled off the bed, and checked  below it; smiling she stretched her arm out, grabbed her undies, stood up, slipped them on and headed out her bedroom door in search of Jackson.

Her feet disliked the transition from the soft carpet in her room and the cold hard wooden floor of the living room. She found Jackson standing in the kitchen with her back to her, his shirtless back. Funny that, considering she was wearing it now. Leaning against the wall Cristina felt a smile spread across her face; around her the apartment was nice and neat, nothing left from Arizona’s surprise party. Doing a quick scan of the room, she could not see a single party popper, empty bottle, unwashed plate or crumb lying on the carpet. She had completely missed the tidying, which would make Callie mad, as she did promise she would help. But she would understand as she had much better things to do. Literally.

Breathing silently, she remained leaning against the wall watching Jackson for a few seconds before she spoke, “I thought you left.”

He moved slightly, not expecting to hear her voice behind him, without turning he answered, “Did you want me to?” his voice sounded shaky almost, as if he wasn’t sure. Almost as if he didn’t know how Cristina felt about him. Although she thought, she made it very clear to him last night, again and again and again. She thought she saw his body stiffen, as he stood there, unanswered. Usually she didn’t mind when someone was left insecure, she felt no reason to reassure them, but this was different.

Silently, her feet moved across the wooden floor towards him. Reaching him, she went up onto her tiptoes and placed her arms over his shoulders, her hands lightly running over his torso, until they hung, draped over him. Her fingers recalled his body from last night; they remembered each feature of his chest and his stomach that her hands had already thoroughly explored.

She took a deep breath, breathing him in, before she whispered into his ear, “I want you to come back to bed.” She bent her neck slightly, leaning to begin lightly nibbled on his earlobe, in doing so she could feel a smile break onto his lips. Placing his coffee cup onto the bench he turned to face her, kissing her, desperately, as if he hadn’t kissed her in weeks.

Jackson once again grabbed her just below the ass, pulling her up towards her, and in reply, Cristina wrapped her legs around his waist. A stream of memories came back to her, a strong feeling of déjà vu. Not wanting an exact replica of last night, Jackson took two steps forward and gently placed Cristina onto the empty counter top next to the sink. Her undies didn’t do much to stop the cold spreading over her ass, up her back and down her legs, but she was otherwise occupied, and wasted no thought on the sudden drop in temperature. She would be hot and sweaty soon anyway. Kissing Jackson, she brought her arms down from around his neck, skimming down his torso she quickly arrived at the top of his jeans. She could feel that he was ready for her.

Without breaking his kiss she unzipped his jeans and peeled the down, letting them drop to the floor around his ankles. In turn, Jackson began slowly pulling his top off her, revealing more of her beautiful body, inch by inch. He broke the kiss, “It looks better on you than it ever did on me. But you look much better without it” he said as he pulled it over her head. Feeling deprived of her lips; he leant down to resume kissing, once again gaining entrance for his tongue. Cristina’s fingers rested on the top of his briefs for only a second before she began to unroll them. She had only just started when he lightly placed his hands on top of hers forcing her to stop, he broke her kiss once again.

She lowered her hands as he opened his mouth to speak, “Callie.. is she?” he said, whilst a quite moan of pleasure escaped his lips.

“At the hospital, with Arizona” Cristina quickly answered, not wanting to wait any longer.

In answer Jackson pulled back slightly, and moved his hands to her waist, “This time I’m in charge.” He whispered into her ear, the current position of his hands eliciting a moan of pleasure. Torn between wanting to remain in charge and to give in to his wandering hands, she hesitated for a moment. Moving his hands only slightly, she moaned again, breaking the tie, forcing her to give in, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing his lips, hungrily wanting more.

**…**

It was strange, for the first time in months Cristina felt happy. Walking down the street, she smiled, she was smiling and she made her feel powerful. She had a perfect night and a perfect morning with Jackson and now she was heading to work to cut some people up. Everything was right in the world. She loved surgery more than anything in the world, but she felt that that could change, Jackson was perfect. Was this how Mere felt with McDreamy, Derek at the beginning, the bit that came after the initial one nightstand. Mere. God, she couldn’t wait to tell her all about Jackson. She was her person, telling her made things real, and she so badly wanted this to be real. As she made her way to the hospital, she couldn’t help but recall the details of that morning.

_She felt so comfortable lying in Jackson’s arms, she felt safe, as if she belonged in them she had never felt more at home. The sun was glaring down on her, no longer cruel and blinding as it had been on past mornings but welcoming and friendly. Gazing out the window she smiled as a flock of birds flew past her window and the bare trees swayed in the wind. Lying there she thought about how much she loved Autumn, the in between season, transitioning, just like her._

_Not that you could really distinguish between the seasons here in Seattle with all the rain, most people hated the rain, but not her she loved it. She loved how it gave the day a mood; she loved watching stupid simple woman running through the rain with their hands up covering their new dye jobs, perms, straightened perfect fringes. She found joy as they shrieked when a car drove past, splashing the massive puddle all over the Dolce Gabbana dress and Louis Vuitton handbag, she didn’t think she made it a bad person. She found joy in the small things in life._

_She loved how lying in bed with Jackson felt so relaxing, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him. Usually she hated to spoon, she always considered herself as a knife but with Jackson it felt right as their bodies fit perfectly together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. BEEP- BEEP. Her alarm started its morning ritual of high-pitched continuous beeping, the most obnoxious sound that was capable of waking up anyone in a 2 kilometre radius. She knew what this meant. She had to leave the comfort of his arms, this bed, this room and venture out into the world and go to work._

_Behind her Jackson groaned as she leant over, pulling out of his grasp and shutting off the alarm clock. Rolling over to face him she found herself greeted by his beautiful smile, “Morning” he said in a groggy voice._

_Laughing she replied, “You’ve only been asleep for ten minutes, doesn’t exactly qualify as a new day.” He smirked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a deep kiss. She loved the way he tasted. Hesitantly she pulled back, and leapt out of bed. Walking to her dresser, she pulled out some clothes, walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower._

_Leaning against the bathroom door she watched Jackson get dressed and then place his hand out expectantly in front of him, “What?”_

_“I need my shirt back” he said with the hugest smile on her face. Trying not to smile, she put an indignant look on her face, not wanting him to guess what she truly thought._

_“Do I need to take it by force?” he quipped, a grin now plastered across her face as not even her stubbornness could conceal it._

_Laughing she pulled it off and threw it to him, “Happy?” She watched him scanning her up and down silently for a moment  the smile wiped off her face._

_He was staring at her strangely, making her feel nervous, as if he didn’t like what he saw. He saw her body stiffen and knew he had to say something to relax her, he had never seen her open like this, she was always slightly detached, but naked in front of him, she had no shield, no wall to go up. Words couldn’t express what he felt, taking a step forward he dropped all that he was holding, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed her up against the wall, kissing her passionately._

_Drawing back for a moment, Cristina looked into his gorgeous green eyes, “Join me in the shower?”_

_Glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he looked torn “I can’t. I have to go home before work.” He watched her face fall a little, so slightly that most wouldn’t notice the change in her expression, “Another time, I promise.”_

_Smiling, she placed her palm against his chest, pushing him away, “Go. Before I change my mind.” Turning she walked towards the shower, kicking the door shut behind her._

 

As she made her way to the residents lounge she could still recall Jackson’s eyes on her ass as she walked away from him, and she remembered how happy his attention had made her. She found Mere alone in the Residents lounge sitting on the seat staring up at Izzie’s empty cubby hole.

Mere turned around as she entered, sighed and mumbled, “All she left was a note.”

“I know.”

Cristina dumped her stuff in her cubbyhole and started to change into her scrubs as Mere continued to mutter, “We saved her Cristina.”

“I know”

“And Alex...”

“Yeah.”

“George is upset.”

“Of course he is Mere. They were best friends.”

“And she just left. Don’t ever do that to me Cristina.”

Turning to face Meredith she looked her dead in the eyes, smiled and replied, “I won’t. I promise.” She then began to pull off her jeans and her smile widened as she recalled how much she enjoyed taking her clothes off for Jackson.

“What did you do?”

She quickly brought her gaze up from the ground and she stared directly at Mere who was now looking her up and down, “What?”

She watched as a smile spread across Mere’s face, “You’re bright and shiny.”

“No I’m no..”

“You had sex didn’t you?”

“I, uh, well.” Cristina stammered.

Mere’s face fell as a disgusted look came over her face, “Please tell me you didn’t sleep with an intern!”

“Ew gross. Of course I didn’t!” she cried. How could she think that? Well, she was contemplating it a while ago but she moved on from that train of thought and Mere knew that.

“Who is it?” Cristina was already in her scrub pants and was just pulling off her singlet as she started to answer. The sound of the opening door stopped her short; she pulled her singlet off over her head and turned to see who it was. Typical. It was Jackson. He stared at her for a second, desperately wanting to kiss her right there and then, rip off her and just, he blushed and looked down at the floor.

“Dr Grey. Dr Yang.” He nodded in their direction, stuffed his bag in his locker and almost ran out the door.

Meredith looked from the trail of dust Jackson left behind as he exited the room at top speed and then back at Cristina. “Cristina!” she almost shrieked in disbelief, a sheepish grin crossed Cristina’s face. “A Mercy Wester?” Cristina nodded slowly, wondering what her person was thinking; she was the only person whose opinion she mattered to her. A smile spread over Mere’s face, “Good work. I may be married…”

“On a post-it note” Cristina interrupted.

Ignoring her Mere continued, “I may be married, but that is one fine piece of ass.”

Giggling Cristina replied, “Seriously? We don’t talk like that!”

Mere laughed too, “So was he good?” As Cristina opened her mouth to speak she was once again interrupted by the sound of the opening door, this time residents filed in and filled the room; rounds were starting in ten minutes and nobody wanted to be late, not with the cuts. Not wanting to air their private conversation, Cristina cocked her head slightly, trying to tell her with her expression alone.

Mere’s eyes widened momentarily and her smile changed into a smirk, “Oh. Yang for the win.” Both giggling they stood up grabbed their coats and their pages and headed towards the nurse’s station. For the first time in a while, they were bright and shiny, no longer dark and twisty; morning sex tends to do that for you, especially with the likes of Jackson Avery and Derek Shepherd.

“Wow.”

Cristina looked up from the patient chart she was updating and look straight at Mere, “What?”

“He is so into you.” She began to tilt her head in the direction that Mere was starting, before Mere quickly added, “Don’t”

Looking back at Mere she thought for a moment before repeating herself, “What?” Secretly she was glad of the attention, things happened at her apartment but she had wondered if that was a one off thing? Jackson staring at her at work caused her to think that it was definitely more than a one nightstand.

Mere answered her, “We have been standing here for about 5 minutes waiting for the attendings and the entire time he has been staring at your ass as you lean over the counter updating that damn file.”

A smile spread across Cristina’s face as she continued writing, she hated updating her charts, but her interns were useless at it, they either had terrible handwriting or were completely oblivious about how to write in a chart, she had the stupid ones for sure.

Without looking up she replied, “You do realise that to notice him staring, you have to have been staring at him right?” Hitting Cristina lightly Mere turned her attention to her chart, needing to brush over the details of her case today before she had to present it.

“I’m just surprised that it’s not you doing the staring.” Cristina finished her chart, then grabbed another one from the stack on the neat pile she had made on the nurses’ station counter.

“Do you like him?”

“Like who?” A familiar voice questioned Mere and gave Cristina a sceptical look.

Stammering Cristina started, “Uhm well.”

 Luckily, Bailey arrived and summoned him, “O’Malley, you’re presenting. Let’s go.”

Smiling George leant over the desk, grabbed two charts, whispered, “Tell me later.” and wandered off into the patients room.

Only briefly distracted by George Cristina’s gaze did not rise, it remained steadily on the chart she had just opened, scanning through the details in front of her reluctant to answer the question. Shutting her chart, she grabbed two more from her pile and walked slowly after George with Mere.

 Deep in thought, she quickly reviewed what she knew. She loved spending time with him, it was already more than just sex but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to make it real, and telling Mere meant that it was real. Once it was real she could get hurt, again, she didn’t want a repeat, she knew that this time would be different but that didn’t stop her from hesitating before she answered.

Watching her as they walked Mere quickly figured it out for herself, “Cristina!” her tone was a mix of mocking, shock, happiness and also hope. She knew that Cristina needed to be happy, but she wasn’t sure if Jackson Avery would be the best thing for her. She didn’t know anything about him really, he was a Mercy Wester, could she trust him with her person? She knew that Cristina liked him, so she really hoped that he was right for her.

Cristina smiled, looked up at Mere and answered her this time with more than just an expression, “Yes, yes I do. But…” Mere would never know what she was going to say as the Bailey cleared her throat, signalling silence. Mere watched Avery walk in with another Mercy Wester; Chuck or Charlie or someone, she couldn’t quite remember his name, it was something like Charlie Percy, no that wasn’t right, it was Dr Charles Percy. She needed to get on the same service as him, who better to grill about Jackson Avery than his best friend, or friend, or even possibly casual acquaintance.

Mere was hovering in the doorway deep in thought while George presented the old man’s case to the room and Cristina tuned him out as she felt Jackson’s hand touch hers. Without words she felt at peace with him, his hand was barely touching her and yet she felt alive, she could feel his breath against her shoulder and all she wanted to do was to drop her files and kiss him. Taking a deep breath in she felt her body relax, no longer dependent on his touch; she listened to George talk about possible risks on the surgery of a wipple to the old man and his wife. Today was about surgery, she needed to cut, and she needed Cardio that is what she needed to do today, get a Cardio trauma.

Next to her Jackson stood still deep in thought; thinking about how he needed to think about work, to forget about her for a few hours, which was hard considering he was standing next to her, breathing her in, touching her skin. He needed to get a good case today, to get a good surgery; he needed to not get cut from the program. It was fine to obsess over Cristina in his own time but now he had to focus. As George finished speaking Cristina and Jackson turned towards the door, headed out and then split in two different directions, Cristina went to the ER and Jackson went with half a dozen residents to continue rounding. Jackson tried to push any fragment of a thought about Cristina to the deep corners of his mind and in turn, she tried to block him out of all thought processes, just for a day. 

**...**

Hours had passed since she last laid eyes on him. Having caught a cardio case in the pit that she was able to assist on she forgot about him, about everything. That was the beauty of the OR. Cristina found that when she scrubbed in she scrubbed her mind free of everything, every tiny detail of her life. In that OR all that was important was saving the patient’s life, she didn’t matter, only her skills mattered, only what she had learnt, nothing else.

But that only applied in the OR, after she scrubbed out her mind was full again, filled with personal crap. She wanted to find Jackson, first Mere but definitely Jackson after. It had been hours since she had touched him, kissed him. However right now food was the priority as Cristina headed down to the cafeteria. Grabbing a salad and a coffee she plonked herself down onto the chair next to Alex. “That surprise party was a complete bust.” He moaned.

“Not for some of us.” Mere retorted giving Cristina a knowing look.

“How would you know you didn’t even go?” Alex replied, completely oblivious to the stare they had just exchanged. Taking a mouthful of his burger he continued, “No drunk chicks to nail.”

“I don’t think others had that problem.” Mere said as Cristina took a sip of her drink, which she quickly spurted out on the table.

“What?” Alex glanced from Cristina to Mere, “Wha..” His pager went off causing him to pause mid-word. Checking it, he sighed and continued, “Damn. It’s the clinic.” Stuffing the last portion of his burger into his mouth, he stared at his plate for a minute before chucking the fries to Cristina, stood up, grabbed his coat of the back of the chair and walked off.

“So...” Mere started as she moved to Alex’s recently abandoned chair.

“I don’t Mere I..” Cristina replied not wanting to be grilled by Mere about her escapades with Jackson.

“Not where I was going.” She said as she stole one of Cristina’s newly acquired fries. “Izzie’s back.”

“What!?” Cristina almost dropped the fork she was holding. “Since when,” spinning her head around to check he was gone, “Does Alex know??”

“No. She told me not to tell him.” Mere replied.

“Tell him what?” Both turned to look to see George sit down next to them holding a sandwich and a file.

Exchanging a nervous glance with Cristina, Meredith answered, “Izzie’s back.”

“Wait what?”

“Save it Bambi, been through this already. Let’s get to the new part, why?” Cristina interrupted, impatient as ever and wanting to know more.

Giving Cristina a glare to let her know how much he despised that nickname he took a bite of his sandwich and sat silently ready to listen.

“She had this patient from her..” Mere began.

“Where is she?” George interrupted.

“She doesn’t want you guys to know.” Thinking silently for a moment she decided against her instructions, “The Clinic.”

Jumping up George grabbed his stuff, heading towards the clinic at a run.

“When did life get so...” Mere started.

“Complicated.” Cristina finished. Sitting quietly for a moment a thought suddenly crossed her mind, “Mere?”

Not looking up from the patient file she was currently filling in she answered “Yes.”

“You said Izzie’s in the clinic.” Cristina remarked.

“Yes.”

“Alex just got paged to the clinic.” Cristina said finished her trail of thought.

“Shit.” Mere exclaimed. “That will not be good.”

“Especially if Izzie mentions that you know she’s here, and you didn’t tell Alex.” Cristina added.

“We have to do something..” Cristina’s pager started beeping, cutting Mere off mid-sentence. A smile spread across Cristina’s face.

“Cardio consult. The pit. Got to go, keep me posted on the Izzie situation.” She said pushing her leftover food towards Mere.

“Just leave me. I’m fine not to worry. I can do it by myself, don’t need your help.” Mere yelled after her as Cristina ran towards the cafeteria doors, ready for another case.

                                             ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was just so tired. Her surgery turned out to be 11 hours, which wasn’t long by normal standards but when you start the day with a 6 hour surgery and limited sleep the night before they can add up. She was no longer hungry; her tiredness seemed to override everything else. Slowly she walked towards an on call room. Alex rushed past who, angrily stomping away from the OR gallery. ‘I’m guessing he found Izzie’ she thought to herself. Usually she would try find out the cause but she was just so tired.

She needed to brag to Mere about her surgery but she was too tired. She wanted to find Jackson but she just wanted to sleep. Everything else could wait sleep came first. Turning the knob on the door handle she found it locked, she knocked and out came a loud cry, “OCCUPIED” from somebody was obviously tied up, evidently not sleeping judging by their tone. Trudging forward she came round the corner and tried the next door. Luckily this one was empty. Shutting the door behind her she flicked off the lights, kicked her shoes off and collapsed onto the bed. Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath, smashed her face into the pillow and fell asleep.

                                                                -------------------------------------------------------

“Oh shit sorry.” A voice muttered from the direction of the door. Opening her eyes she saw light streaming in from the hallway through the open door, belting down on her face.

Moving her head slightly she squinted trying to make a face. In a sluggish tone she spoke, “Jackson?”

The shape stepped forward shutting the door behind him, “Yeah. I can leave I just..”

Yawning she spoke over him, “No stay. You look exhausted.” She patted the bed, gesturing for him to come and lie down. Rolling over to face the wall she shuffled slightly, making room for him to lay next to her. Taking the hint Jackson locked the door behind him, kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.

“Cristina..” He began before she quickly cut him off in a sleepy voice, “Later. Shhush. Sleep.” Feeling behind her in the dark, she grabbed his arm, draping it over her. Leaning forward slightly he kissed her on the cheek and then pulled her into him. She lay still for a few seconds listening to him breathing before once again sleep took over her. It took Jackson mere minutes to fall asleep, his day had been hectic too and lying with her in his arms made his day feel complete. He was content.

                                              ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cristina groaned slightly, cracked her neck and groggily opened her eyes. In front of her lay a wall. She turned her head slightly to discover Jackson lying behind her, fast asleep, with his arms wrapped around her. Slowly she sat up, desperately trying not to wake him while squirming out of his grip. She didn’t really remember all that much and it took her a minute to regain her semi-awake conversation. She had said later. They were going to talk about it later, when she wasn’t half asleep she guessed, but did she have any idea what she wanted to say? Any idea at all?

Glancing down at her watch she saw that she had been asleep for about 5 hours, that was pretty good. Sadly that meant she had to leave. She needed to talk to Mere, to Alex, to George – Izzie returning had probably not been an ultra-pleasant experience, especially if you factor in a pissed off Alex escaping the gallery several hours ago. Was Izzie still here? Or had she left already, she needed to find out. Plus she had rounds in about an hour.  Looking around her she surveyed her options, how to move without waking sleeping beauty.

She moved her leg over him, and paused for a moment as she looked down on him. He looked so happy, so peaceful, lying there asleep between her thighs. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before rising again, ready to move off the bed. BEEP-BEEP. The bedside table lit up as a pager went psycho, flashing and beeping. Leaning forward she grabbed it, quickly shutting it off. Glancing over she saw a confused look on Jackson’s face. “What a way to wake up Dr. Yang.” He remarked.

“Shut up. It’s not my fault you woke up, it’s your damn intern paging you at all hours of the day. I was stealth.” She said indignantly, only slightly blushing, but in this light, he couldn’t tell.

“Uh-huh.” Jackson replied, raising his hands to her hips, pushing her down so she was no longer knelling over him but sitting on him. “The kiss was a nice touch.”

“How did… wait.” She hit him playfully, “You were awake.”

“Do you really think I can sleep with a gorgeous woman hovering over me in such a compromising position?”

“Compromising? Hardly.”

Raising his hands slightly he pulled off her scrub top and singlet all in one go. “How about now?”

“No.” she said with a grin spreading across her face. “Compromising would be if you didn’t have pants on.” She lowered her hands to the top of his scrub pants and tugged slightly, pulling them down slowly, never breaking eye contact. “Like this.” She said as she chucked them behind her onto the floor and slid forward to resume her position sitting on top of him.

“Well that’s hardly compromising.” He answered, peeling down her scrub pants slowly, over her knees they went and then off completely, and quickly joined his pants on the floor beside the bed. “This might be.”

Cristina placed her hands slightly higher and grabbing the bottom of his shirt pulled it off him with little assistance. Chucking it onto the floor to join the rest of their clothes she leant down and gave him a quick kiss before resuming her position.

Looking her up and down Jackson whispered, “Well this is hardly fair. I’m only wearing one thing, you’re wearing two.”

Cristina leant forward, nibbled on his ear lobe slightly and whispered into his hair, “Life isn’t fair.” Shifting her head slightly to the right, she kissed him. A kiss full of passion but no urgency, full of desire but barely any lust, it was a kiss full of feelings. She lowered her hands and began to massage his upper thigh, slowly moving upwards. Jackson groaned, as her skilful delicate hands got higher, his own hands searching her body. First holding onto her hips, then through her hair, then deciding to make life fair; he moved his hands to her lower back, and quickly brought them higher. His hands eagerly undid the clasp at the back of her bra, and ready to remove the rest of it he whispered, “Now we’re even.”

Cristina smiled for a second before annoyance passed over her. On the bedside table a pager was going off its head, she leant forward imperceptibly. But was stopped as he grabbed her hips and pulled her back towards him. Not wanting to stop but curious she leant forward, this time harder and faster, not wanting to abide by his wishes. She picked up the pager, which read ‘911 – Grey, M.’

“Shit.” Dropping the pager she slid her hands to her back and hooked her bra together again.

“911?” Jackson inquired, obviously annoyed by this interruption.

“I have to go.” Rolling off him she bent over grabbed her pants, pulled them on and quickly pulled her shoes on, not bothering to retie the laces.

“Just stay a little longer.” Jackson pleaded as he sat up quickly and watched Cristina dress herself for the second time today. Pulling her top over her head she leant forward and kissed him.

“Finish without me.” She said as she grabbed her pager off the table and turned to head out. Jackson’s pager went off behind her as she approached the door. Pausing for a moment, she pulled her hair up into a quick bun and took a deep breath, stepped forward and unlocked the door. She pulled it open slightly before it shut in front of her. Behind her stood a fully dressed Jackson who spun her around and pushed her up against the door he had just closed. He kissed her hungrily for a moment before pulling back.

“See you later.” He whispered. Softly nudged out of the way by the door she moved to the side as Jackson exited and the door closed behind him. She stood still for a few moments before she pulled herself together, straightened her scrubs, pulled open the door and headed off to find Mere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Old work of mine, that is finally getting updated here...  
> Unbeta-ed so all errors are my own


	3. Collision

Jackson had been pulled into a long surgery that was complicated and tiring but he couldn’t wait to get his next case. He was heading off to the pit to try and pick up a few good cases before he rounded on his patients and found out what cases Mark would let him go solo on today, or even assist on. It was a few days since the surprise party, a few days of work and then heading straight to Cristina’s place afterwards. No one knew, apart from Mere and maybe Callie and Arizona knew by know but it was hard to tell, they were as quiet as their pleasure allowed.

“Avery!” Alex yelled across the corridor.

Looking up from his file briefly, he slowly walked towards Alex trying not to hit any passing nurses or patients.

“Me. You. Tonight Joes?” Alex said standing in the doorway, his foot holding the door open, he was just about to scrub in.

“Uhh.” Jackson started eyes on his file, trying to think up some form of a believable excuse.

“Come on, I’ve barely seen you. There is something pulling at your attention all the time. This is getting ridiculous, we need to go out and get drunk.” Alex commanded as he tied his scrub cap up at the back, foot still in the door.

“What about O’Malley?” Jackson answered as he eyes flicked down the corridor. “Oi George!” he yelled down at George who was leaning over the nurses’ station grabbing a pen.

Alex shrugged as Jackson looked back over at him, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to him. Guys night out, Alex, Jackson and George. A night that would distract Alex from Izzie and Jackson from Cristina, it sounded good, in theory. Plus George was always a good laugh and could be easily beaten at darts.

“Yeah?” George replied stopping a metre in front of them with a file open in his hands, his right hand rapidly moving flicking between pages and scribbling notes.

“Joes, tonight? After our shifts?” Alex remarked, a smile on his face but also impatient to scrub in and start his surgery.

“Really?” George muttered, shook his head and continued, “I mean uh yeah sounds good, meet in the residents lounge?”

Alex looked from George’s face to Jackson’s, nodding slowly. His eyes rested on Jackson as Jackson continued writing in the file he held in his hands, deep in thought.

Sensing both George’s and Alex’s eyes on him he looked up, shrugged and said, “What the hell.”

“Great, good, sweet, Well I have to scrub in so see you later, I’ll page you if my surgery runs long.” Alex backed into the door, turned and let the door close quietly behind him.

“Do you know where Cristina is?” George asked as he walked next to Jackson towards the nurses’ station to drop off their folders.

“What? Why would I know where she was?” Jackson answered defensively, shutting the file and placing his pen back into the pocket of his scrub top.

“No reason really you would I guess. Just asking.” George replied, giving Jackson a strange look and placing his file onto of several others and wandering away from Jackson towards the elevator.

“I just got out of surgery, don’t know where anyone is, sorry.” Jackson answered, trying to gauge what George was thinking from his body language alone.

George pushed the button and turned back to face Jackson, “That’s fine, if you see tell her I’m looking for her.”

“Yeah will do.” Jackson answered, as he turned and headed off to the pit. ‘Shit’ he thought. Why on earth did he react like that, George must have an inkling of some form. He may not think they were screwing but he probably thought that something was up. This was not good. How would Cristina act if George brought anything up? Would she act as idiotically as he did? Pushing the door open in front of him he sighed as his pager went off. The pit would have to wait he was needed in the burns unit, this was going to be a long day.

 

 

“I need to get stupid drunk tonight.” Mere stated, slamming her head down on the cafeteria table.

“Uhm okay, why?” Cristina replied taking a bite of her sandwich and flipping through a magazine article on cardiovascular reconstructs.

“Tequila I think is best.” Mere muttered as she lifted her head up and took a sip of her coffee. All the while blatantly ignoring the question.

“So Izzie is actually gone now? As in not coming back gone?” Cristina asked raising her eyes up from her magazine.

Leaning back onto her chair and grabbing the other half of Cristina’s sandwich, she took a bite before answering. “Yeah.”

“And Alex?” Cristina was actually worried about Alex, he had been in and out of surgery for the last few days, barely sleeping just working, it wasn’t good for him.

“I don’t know! He doesn’t really like talking about it.” Mere replied. She leant forward, grabbed her coffee and took another sip and Cristina sat deep in thought for a moment.

“I know.” She sighed. Cristina snatched Mere’s coffee out of her hand and took a long sip. “You should get another.” She remarked placing the empty cup onto the table.

“You never said what you were doing when I paged you the other day.” Mere remarked ignoring the empty coffee cup sitting right in front of her, she took another bite of Cristina’s sandwich.

“If you were a few minutes later, Jackson.” Cristina answered a grin across her face. Mere had needed her, it was an actual emergency but she really wished that it was an emergency twenty minutes later. But Mere was her person, and she topped anyone and everyone. Even Jackson.

“Why am I not surprised.” Mere snorted, scanning the cafeteria. She kept her voice down as she talked, not wanting to give the nurses or interns any new gossip for the rumour mill. Gossip spread through this place and Cristina always lowered her voice when she mentioned anything private, especially when it came to her love life and Jackson was no exception. Mere was pretty sure that she was the only person who knew about this, Jackson may have told someone but she couldn’t work out who that would be, he didn’t really appear to have a best friend. He had Charles, Alex and George but he may not have told them anything. Cristina certainly wouldn’t have told anyone else.

“So drinks tonight?” Cristina asked eyes back on her magazine, scanning the page but not taking any of it in. She had already finished the article and now she was just deep in thought, trying to look busy. The main reason she sat down with this magazine is so others would find her less approachable, and it gave her something to focus on, preventing her mind from wandering.

“Joes.” Mere answered watching Cristina steadily flicking through her magazine, her eyes moving but obviously not paying attention to any word or image on the page.

“When?” Cristina muttered, her attention somewhere else.

“Whenever we finish I guess.” Mere replied. She was trying to figure out what was on Cristina’s mind; she was deep in thought about something. But she couldn’t quite work out what, it may be Jackson but it was deeper, more serious than that. Although if it was this relationship was much more intense than she had first presumed.

Looking up from her magazine and at Mere, her entire attention focussed on her now she said, “Ok, but we are not playing darts again. You almost took out a guy’s ear last time, and you weren’t even drunk!”

Mere sighed, “Fine. I have to go,” she looked down at her beeping pager, “Bailey needs me.”

“Have fun.” Cristina replied finishing off her sandwich. Looking down at her blank pager she smiled as it lit up and started beeping, it was the pit, she loved it when it was the pit. Rolling up the magazine as she stood she stuffed it into her pocket and headed out of the cafeteria. Drinking with Mere sounded good, she needed something to take her mind off Jackson, he was all she could think about lately. One night Jackson free might be the best. Although drunk her might want to show up at his apartment afterwards. It was really just a wait and see.

 

“I heard that you were going to Joe’s tonight with Alex and George” Charles stated a pang of jealousy in his tone.

“Yeah. He dragged me into it. Wanted a quiet night in actually.” Jackson replied, not noticing Charles attitude.

“You seem to be having a lot of those lately.” Charles remarked as they slowly made their way to the nurses’ station to drop off their files.

“Why do you say that?” Jackson handed his file over to Nadine with a smile, leant over the desk and grabbed another one to check over.

“We never hang out anymore.” Charles looked sad as he spoke. He didn’t have many friends here. He didn’t have them back at Mercy West either but here he didn’t really seem to be able to connect with the Seattle Grace people like Jackson had.

“You should come tonight.” Jackson replied.

“Why?” Charles replied sceptically, finishing up his file and handing it to Nadine.

“Like you said we never hang out. Tonight we will.” Jackson held his file by his side as they made their way his patients room.

“Ok… When? Where?” Charles continued walking while Jackson halted outside a room. He turned and paused for a moment waiting for Jackson to reply.

“Residents lounge, after our shifts.” Jackson answered walking into the room. Pushing all thoughts of tonight and Cristina out of his head he smiled warmly and greeted Mrs Jones as he shut the door behind him.

 

“You okay?” Cristina asked Alex as she plonked herself down in the sit next to him in the cafeteria. He was taking a bite of his burger and only briefly looked up at her for a second before returning his full attention to it. Taking the lid off her salad, she took a sip of her coffee and then sat staring at him for a moment, waiting for a reply.

“What? Yeah I’m fine, shut up about it ok?” Alex replied still not looking up. She could tell that he wasn’t, he was still upset about it, Izzie was his wife after all. She put him through hell. In these sorts of things people always take sides, maybe they don’t declare what side they are on to anyone but everyone does it. On this occasion she was on Alex’s side and she genuinely cared, even though many thought she wasn’t capable of such emotions.

“Any plans for this evening?” she asked as she stuck her fork into some lettuce and brought it up to her mouth. Taking a bite, she didn’t remove her gaze from him and continued eating.

“Yes actually. Why?” Alex finished off his burger and reached over grabbing his water.

“No reason really.” She replied, glad that he had some form of company tonight, it wouldn’t be good for him to be by himself again. Assuming he would be drinking, that would be good therapy for him.

“Ok sure.” Alex said, wondering what she was going to say had he announced that he was free tonight. He opened his mouth to ask her something but Cristina’s pager beeped.

“Crap.” Cristina jumped out of her seat and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving her salad and coffee with Alex.

 

Jackson walked into the residents lounge with an odd sense of excitement for tonight. It was weird, he wasn’t sure why he felt like this. Tonight was going to be good, getting drunk and playing darts, was just what he needed, what they all needed. Jackson dropped his dirty scrubs in the washing basket and his towel into the basket sitting beside it. Grabbing his keys, phone and jacket out of his cubby, he rummaged through to find anything else that he would need.

“You ready?” Alex asked as he came through the doors his hair still wet from the shower. Walking past Jackson he dropping his dirty scrubs and towel into their respective washing bins.

“I invited Charles.” Jackson replied turning to face him, putting his jacket on.

“Nose-dive?” Alex groaned as he rummaged through his cubby, grabbing his keys and stuffing them into his pocket.

“It’ll be fun.” Was all Jackson said in reply, he liked Alex but it would be more fun the more of them, he wanted to get to know George more, he would know a lot about Cristina and he knew so little. Hopefully Charles could keep Alex distracted, are something to that effect.

“Why do you…” Alex started but let himself trial off as the door opened again and in walked George who was dressed and ready to go.

“Hey.” Jackson greeted him with a smile and took a step towards him.

“We ready?” George asked.

Alex stuck his arms into his jacket, zipped it up and then replied, “Just waiting on… here he is.” As Charles walked through the door, also out of scrubs and seemingly ready to go.

“We…” Charles began but Jackson quickly cut him off, not wanting to go through it again.

“Yes, let’s go now.”

Making their way out of the building they were laughing and talking, Alex seemed relaxed, not at all bothered by their company. Jackson lingered behind them as they passed the OR board, he noticed that Cristina’s name wasn’t on there, he wondered what she doing tonight. Pushing that thought out of his mind he rushed to catch up to George, Alex and Charles before the lift doors shut, leaving him behind.

“That was close.” Alex remarked as he slid between the doors and placed himself in between George and Charles.

“What did I miss?” Jackson asked as the elevator hummed and they made their way towards the lobby.

“Charles here thinks he can beat me at darts.” Alex replied with a smirk across his face. George chuckled to himself and Charles looked adamant that he was right. The doors opened and they made their way across to Joe’s with Alex taunting Charles about his impending defeat, but Jackson wasn’t really paying much attention. With one final thought of Cristina he tried again to push her out of her head again. Tonight wasn’t about her. Taking a deep breath he looked up at the night sky and quickened his pace. He just knew that tonight would be a night to remember.

**...**

“Cristina!! Are you ready yet?”  Mere moaned as she pulled her shoes on. Standing up she grabbed everything she needed out of her locker, cubby hole thing and stuffed it into her bag.

“Just one sec!” Cristina replied. She never took this long to get ready, they were just going to Joe’s but she had 3 different shirts stuffed into her locker and after examining them, only two were possibilities. She would be ready by now but she was a bit delayed with one of patients taking a turn for the worst in the last few minutes of surgery, she saved his life, as usual. But now Mere was nagging her to leave, it wasn’t really her fault, although she had taken awhile in the shower, and then doing her hair and then retouching her makeup and then deciding what to wear. Okay so it kind of was her fault.

“Ready.” Cristina stuffed her blouse into her locker, grabbed her leather jacket, put that on and then stuffed a few things to her bag, which she slung over her shoulder as she stuffed her feet into her ankle boots.

“Took you long enough.” Mere sighed with a hint of a smile on her face. Cristina never bothered this much about what shirt she wore to Joe’s so no doubt she going to meet up with Jackson afterwards.

“I was going to invite Alex.” Cristina said as they wandered out the door and towards the lift. “But he had other plans.”

“With who?” Mere pondered aloud as she pressed the button.

“Dunno.” Cristina muttered deep in thought. Mere was right, she was going to find Jackson afterwards; she couldn’t get him out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. It was good that she was going to have a few hours free from all that, just like she did in the OR. With all the Derek drama and her hooking up with Jackson they hadn’t gone anywhere outside the hospital in the last few days, well apart from each other’s houses. Getting stupid drunk, sounded like a plan.

 

“So what happened at that party?” Alex asked, his eyes still and piercing, focused on Jackson, then scanning over to George. They had been at the bar near on twenty minutes, they were on their second round of beers and the topic had gone from sport, surgery and now to the party.

“Dude that was days ago, let it go.” George replied taking another sip of his drink. Feeling Alex’s eyes on him he hastily added, “Fine, not much.” He looked over at Jackson, prompting him to give an answer, preferably longer and more detailed than his own.

Seeing George’s eyes on him he placed his bottle back on the table and looked over at Alex, “I was barely there. Went for the alcohol and left after an hour or two. It was kind of flat.”

“I didn’t go. Wasn’t invited.” Charles added, since no one asked him for his opinion he sounded quite put off. He wasn’t invited because he didn’t talk to any of them, the only reason Jackson was invited, well he didn’t actually know that one. Why was he invited? He pondered that for a moment before Alex’s words pulled him out of his thought, forcing him to listen.

“….not quite sure what that was all about.” Alex finished with a knowing nod from George. Charles sat deflated, his empty bottle lay on the table as he spun it round and round with one hand.

“I didn’t really see much of Cristina really. She disappeared into her room early on and wasn’t seen again.” George replied, downing the rest of his drink after he finished speaking. Jackson watched the two of them, unsure what it was Alex had said.

“Another round?” Jackson asked standing up. He sat on the end so he could make an easy getaway when things got too dull; his high hopes for the evening were quickly fading. He faced the table waiting for a reply.

“Same for me.” George replied, he seemed to be having a good night, it wasn’t often that he was invited out with them, he had grown closer to Alex after the whole Izzie thing, and Charles and him were pretty good friends now.

“Cheers.” Charles answered, sounded slightly happier by this development. He enjoyed not talking about a party he wasn’t invited to.

Hovering for a moment Jackson got impatient. “Alex?” he asked.  

“Speak of the devil.” Alex muttered to himself. “Yeah, another’s good.”

“Maybe you could ask them now? Or wait an hour and they will be too drunk to lie, you know how they drink.” George said, following Alex’s line of sight.

“What?” Jackson wondered aloud. Turning he looked in the direction that both Alex and George were staring. “Shit.” He murmured.

 

Rushing towards down the steps as the rain started to piss down on them, they tore open the door and came to a halt inside the dry. Shivering slightly they looked at one another before both taking off their coats and scarves and heading over to the bar.

“Six shots of tequila please Joe.” Cristina said with a smile, the music was loud, the place was warm, tonight was going to be good.

“I’ll uh.. go grab us a seat.” Mere stammered, cleared her throat and a smirk crossed her face.

“Mere?” Cristina turned towards her, trying to read her expression, but not having any luck.

“Jacket?” Mere said her hand stuck out towards her.

“Thanks. Usual seat if you can.” Cristina passed Mere her jacket and then leant forward onto the bar.

“Fancy seeing you here.” A voice said from behind.

She recognised the voice, but she was tired and wasn’t in the mood to be hit on by some guy, so instead of her usual cool front, she turned her head swiftly and all she could say was, “Shit.”

Jackson laughed, leaning forward on the bar next to her, “Same again, thanks Joe.”

“I can’t ever escape you can I?” she smiled, resting her elbows on the bar again and shifting slightly closer to Jackson.

“So you didn’t know I was coming?” he asked, titling his head towards her. Part of him hoped that she did, that she came her on purpose. That she was losing her mind as well, not just him.

“No. Did you?” she muttered softly then raising her voice slightly, “Take your time on those drinks Joe.” He gave her a sceptical look, thinking she was complaining about the wait. She flashed him a sincere smile and he moved his eyes from her to Jackson. Immediately he knew what was going on, he had been a bartender for many years, he knew how to read people. He nodded and went to serve another customer.

“No.” Jackson replied. A couple pushed past him, drunk, hands all over each other, and their breaths smelt of beer. Jackson moved over to let them have more space, which meant his body was right against Cristina’s now. It didn’t appear odd to anyone in the bar, it was the perfect excuse for no-one to suspect a thing.

“I should probably go find Mere.” Cristina breathed barely able to control herself. All she wanted to do was to kiss him, to wrap her legs around his waist, to have his lips scouring her body, to have him playing with her hair as he brushed it behind her ear. She was losing the battle of self-control.

“Yeah, that might be a fine idea.” Jackson replied. He was watching her breath slowly in and out, trying to regain control over her emotions, he saw her knuckles whiten as she balled her hands into fists, to stop them from tearing off his clothes.

“Here you go.” Joe handed them their drinks, on two separate trays.

“Thanks” they replied in unison. Jackson grabbed a twenty from his front pocket and Cristina pulled her wallet from her bag and handed Joe a note from within. Turning at the same time, Jackson waited by her side as she scanned the room.

“You have to be joking.” Cristina muttered.

“What… oh.” Jackson looked around the room and saw Mere sitting in between Alex and George, all four of them laughing and Charles adding a few extra words, causing them to explode in another fit of laughter.

“Act normal.” Cristina whispered as they made their way over to their newly joined table.

“They won by 17 points, it was…” Jackson began in his usual tone and smile on his lips.

“Are you talking to me about sports?” Cristina asked, she stopped walking, a look of disbelief on her face as she stood still.

“You said...” Jackson stopped and turned towards her, trying to keep his drinks balanced and not pouring them over whoever walked past him.

“To be normal.” She whispered. Starting to walk again, she continued in a more audible tone, “What on god’s earth possessed you to discuss sports scores with me? When I have I ever even signalled I gave a shit about organised sports?” dumping her tray down on the table in front of her, she gestured Alex to move his ass over to make room. “So we spending the night with them now?” she asked Mere, raising an eyebrow.

“If you don’t mind.” Mere replied with a knowing look that was luckily unnoticeable to anyone else.

“Sounds good to me.” Cristina smiled as she sat down. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jackson sliding each drink across the table to its owner and then handing the empty tray to a bartender that walked by.

“Shift your ass Yang.” Jackson lightly touched her shoulder, pushing her over to make a space for him to sit. She groaned loudly, as she would do for anyone who wanted her to move but secretly she was glad that he hadn’t opted to sit beside Charles. Although she didn’t know which would be harder, staring across the table at him or having her body pressed up beside his, not being able to properly touch it.

 

“… and the leg she brought in was freshly shaven with red manicured nails, she completely ignored the fact it was dude on the table.” The whole table erupted in laughter while Cristina sat mortified at that memory.

“If I remember it correctly when the leg finally came into the hospital, you stole my surgery.” Cristina remarked, the red fading from her cheeks.

“Yep. So much fuss over a leg.” Alex smiled. For the last hour they had been bringing up stuff about each other’s past, trying hard to shame one another, but in the nicest way possible. They mentioned heart in the elevator, which impressed both Jackson and Charles causing George to buy the next round of drinks in his good mood. Alex was a bit put off but they didn’t mention his awkwardness in the elevator nor did anyone bring Burke’s name into it. Nothing was said about Izzie, as that was still a delicate subject and any other emotionally traumatizing subject was forgotten about.

“I have to go.” George announced as he held his buzzing pager in his hand. Earning a collective sound of ‘Aww.’ “See you tomorrow!” he said dropping a $20 on the table, “Next rounds on me.” He stood up grabbed his jacket off the seat. Charles stood up to let him pass and then dropped down back into his seat as they waved George off.

“At Mercy West it was never like this.” Charles said, a look of sadness passing over his face. “I like it here better. People are nicer.”

“Damn right we are!” Meredith replied her hand thumping down on the table, she was obviously drunk, time for her to go home. Cristina looked towards the door again, as she had been doing for the last 10 minutes. The door opened up again, and in walked Derek, whose jacket was wet from the rain and a tired look hung on his face.

“Dereeek!” Mere shouted across the bar, her hand waving in the air. Turning to the others as he made his way towards them she sighed, “Well that’s my ride. Don’t miss me too much.” Charles stood up again to let her pass and she stumbled forward, straight into Derek’s arms.

“Thanks.” Derek said nodding towards Cristina, grateful for the text message she had sent him 20 minutes ago, telling him to collect her. Not only was she super drunk and needing to go home but Cristina had other plans for tonight that didn’t involve listening to Mere rant about the same thing 20 times forgetting she had made those points already. Usually she didn’t mind, she didn’t notice as she was just as drunk as her. Tonight was not usually.

“Then there were four.” Charles remarked, “I’ll get us another round of drinks. Same again?”

“No more tequila for me, just get me a beer.” Cristina answered lowering her hand underneath the table and placing it on Jackson’s thigh. She could feel his body stiffen for just a moment but then she felt him relax. A brief smile passed over his face and he slouched down further, getting more of him under the table.

“Same for me.” Jackson replied. He had a feeling that Mere leaving meant something. Mere knew about them and normally she wouldn’t tell anyone, but drunk Mere was a different story altogether, meaning that Cristina couldn’t take her eyes off her. Nor could she discretely sneak off with Jackson or anything like that.

“Same.” Alex replied. He watched Charles leave and then turned quickly to face Cristina and Jackson. “What happened at that party? Nobody will tell me anything, did nothing actually happen?”

“Why are you so intent on knowing?” Jackson asked, he found it odd that Alex kept bringing it up.

“I just want to know if I missed a good time I guess.” Alex replied. His answer not satisfying Jackson, prompting him to think that Alex might know something about Cristina and him, perhaps not specifically, but something.

Cristina was slowly moving her hand up Jackson’s leg running it down to the knee, then further and further up each time as she answered Alex’s question, “No screaming matches. Some tears, not much gossip. A few hook-ups, some sex, nothing like the sort of slutty sex that goes on in bar bathrooms though.”

“Like you would know.” Alex replied. He scanned the bar looking for his next conquest, it was about time he moved on from Izzie. She left, she came back and she left again. That ship had sailed and sank. He didn’t notice the look that Jackson gave Cristina before Alex had replied.

“You would know. And trust me so do I.” Cristina replied, her hand stopped, lingering, close but not touching. Jackson gulped, it was taking everything he had and she was not making it any easier on him. He wasn’t sure if it was what she was saying or what she was doing that was making him lose control.

“Uh don’t you want to prove Charles wrong about the dart thing?” Jackson said, he struggled to form the words; his mind was in other places. He moved his hand underneath the table; grabbed Cristina’s hand and placed it on her leg. If she continued, there was no telling what he might do.

“Oh right!” Alex responded his eyes still turned away from Cristina and Jackson. Cristina smirked at Jackson, she was obviously winning, he wasn’t going to last much longer. But neither was she. Maybe she could excuse herself, say that she needed to go home and get Jackson to follow her a few minutes afterwards. Or maybe she needed another idea. It took Jackson all he had to not look at Cristina, he knew that if she saw that smirk on her face, he would have to kiss her. He needed to kiss her.

“Still think you can beat me?” Alex asked as Charles returned with their drinks.

Placing them on the table he answered, “Yeah.”

“Alright then. Let’s do it.” Alex replied. He grabbed two bottles, one he passed to Charles and the other he kept to himself, took a drink and then stood up.

“We need some rules.” Charles said, turning towards the empty dartboards.

“Yeah, though…” Alex replied walking away from the table, out of Cristina’s and Jackson’s hearing range, Alex trialled off, as he was engulfed in the crowd and the music blaring for the jukebox in the corner.

“Cristina!” Jackson exclaimed in a whisper, he now turned to face her.

“Yeah.” She replied silkily, turning her body to face him, moving closing to him.

“It’s hard enough as it is, without you…” he trailed off. The stern look on his face faded to a smile as he watched her eye him up and down, yet again.

Cristina leant forward and whispered into his ear, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Uh okay.” Jackson replied, unsure of why she was telling him that in that tone.

“No. I have to go to the bathroom.” Cristina whispered again, her hot breath on the side of his face, the smell of her perfume was intoxicating.

“Oh.” He muttered, finally understanding what she meant. “3 minutes?” he whispered.

Cristina nodded, she nudged Jackson with her knee, pushing him to stand up as she went past. He stood still, watching her walk through the crowd, that almost seemed to part for her. A few steps later and she had disappeared into the people; all he was left with was a desire to go straight after her. Three minutes was a long time to wait.

**...**

Jackson averted his eyes from where Cristina had disappeared in front of him and looked down at his watch, 3 minutes to go. He stood still for a moment and then walked over to Charles and Alex who were throwing darts at the board and insults at each other.

“Alex you winning?” Jackson asked as he reached them.

“No, I am.” Charles said with a grin as he dramatically pulled one of his darts out of the bulls eye, with a smirk aimed towards Alex.

“For now.” Alex replied, unwilling to accept defeat. “Did Cristina leave?”

“Nope, went to the get a drink or make a phone call or to the bathroom to touch up her makeup. I’m not sure, wasn’t really listening.” Jackson answered, trying to stay as vague as possible to avoid suspicion when he slipped off in. Checking down at his watch he noted just over 2 minutes to go.

“Doubt it was her makeup. She was looking hot enough already.” Charles finished off his beer and went to go for his next throw.

“Dude, that’s Cristina.” Alex said, she was basically well not a sister, but one of his best friends, her and Mere, were never regarded as hot or good looking in his mind. They just were. It just seemed gross, thinking of either of them like that. He might have once, but that was years ago.

“Jackson back me up.” Charles looked over at Jackson, prompting him to agree with him. Jackson was just trying to remain level headed, it was 2 minutes to go and he didn’t want to give anything away.

He shrugged, “I guess. Hadn’t really noticed.”

“Well someone has.” Alex said as he watched Charles throw his darts, as he widened the gap between their scores, Alex sighed. He needed to win this.

“What?” Jackson was curious as to what he meant. Was this in regard to Charles comment? Or was it about something else, something bigger. He wasn’t sure, but he only had 1 minute and 20 seconds to go.

“How do you mean?” Charles asked, expanding on Jackson’s one worded ‘surprised’ tone that also a hidden note of alarm rung in his voice.

“Just something I heard.” Alex said not explaining himself.

“Tell us.” Charles demanded, he wasn’t serious but he was curious. Nobody ever told him anything, he usually found out from overhearing the interns not so skilfully whispering to each other. Plus this gossip was relevant to him, he knew the person and therefore cared about what was said.

Alex remained silent, stepped up to the fraying line of tape that was sloppily placed on the floor and positioned himself to throw the dart. He was serious now, he had to win, he couldn’t let Charles win. Feeling both Jackson’s and Charles’ eyes on him, he dropped his arm and turned to face them, feeling he had to tell them.

“I can’t be the only one that’s noticed.” He said his arms flopped by his sides, clearly put out by their obvious stupidity. They had no idea was he was talking about but even if they did, he could tell they would still be oblivious.

“Noticed?” Charles repeated. Both he and Jackson had blank expressions on his faces, Charles’ was genuine but Jackson’s was forced, although it didn’t look it. He didn’t want to arose any suspicions, he was going to look as shocked as Charles did with whatever Alex said.

“About Cristina.” Alex said, looking more and more frustrated as their expressions changed from blank and vacant to confused. He sighed. “I have had, uh, stuff going on, and even I noticed.”

“Noticed what?” Charles repeated, more annoyed now. Jackson remained silent, looking down at his watch he realised that he time was up, he should be headed over now. But he had to see how this conversation ended first.

“She’s happy, happier than usual, not scalpel happy but normal person happy.” Alex answered. Jackson smiled inwardly, he wouldn’t let this emotion show outside.

“That’s it. That’s your reason. That’s bullshit.” Charles replied, not at all impressed by this somewhat lacking explanation. He stared at Alex, trying to judge just how much of the story he had left out.

“Fine that’s not it. I overheard her telling Mere she was having the best sex of her life. Don’t know who but I figure it happened at the party, they got all touchy when I asked how that went.” Alex turned back to face the board, steadied his hand and then threw, he got triple 20s, he was making a comeback. Charles groaned, and they both pushed that conversation to the back of their mind, now focused on winning this game.

“I’m just going to… be right back.” Jackson muttered. Charles waved him off not really thinking much of his sudden departure. Backs turned to them both, a wide smile spread across his face. It was one thing thinking that, but telling Mere, that was another thing altogether. Pushing through the crowds of wet, drunken people, he was thinking of one thing. All he thought about as he walked was Cristina, who was waiting for him in the bathroom.

 _Shit_ he thought to himself _Which bathroom?_ He mentally kicked himself for not asking. He stood in the corridor, scanning each of the three possible doors. There was no way he was going to call out Cristina and alert the entire world or at least the entire bar of his relationship. Sure only one or two people would actually here him, that was enough.

Taking a step towards the door that was concealing the women’s bathroom he lightly knocked against the wood, hoping that no one else was inside.

**...**

“Jackson!” Cristina exclaimed, grabbing him by the shirt with both hands and pulling him into the bathroom. “Took your time.” Cristina moved her hands up his body, touching either side of his face and kissing him passionately. She forgot how good he tasted.

“Sorry.” Jackson murmured onto her lips. He pushed her backwards up against the door he had just entered through, his hands searching her body, sliding up and down her back, desperate for her touch.

“I missed you.” Cristina pulled her lips away from his for a moment, lowering her hands to her sides. Not wanting to be separated, Jackson pushed up against her, his hands running through her hair, his lips locked with hers, kissing her passionately. He had been waiting for too long for this.

“Me too.” Jackson muttered, his lips still on hers as he spoke. He felt a smile spreading over her lips. With her free hand, Cristina locked the door behind her, not wanting anyone to walk in and interrupt. With the door locked Cristina grabbed the top of his jacket and pulled him even closer to her, her lips moving against his as she hungrily tried to make up for hours without him. Ripping off his jacket, she discarded it on the floor.

Using the palm of her hand, she pushed Jackson backwards, away from the door. His hands left her hair, and touched upon the top of her shoulders. Moving them down he started unbuttoning her blouse, Cristina expected them to be clumsy, pulling at the buttons but his hands expertly undid them within a few seconds. That’s surgeons for you, meticulous, fast workers. Pulling the sides of the blouse apart, he yanked it over her shoulders and dropped it on the floor.

Cristina took control pushing him against a cubicle wall, her tongue sliding between his lips, a burning desire inside her, that couldn’t make her move fast enough. His hands moved to her waist and he moved up and down against her trying to relieve the tension.

The moan that formed in her mouth, he felt against his lips and it sent shock waves through his body. Her nimble hands grabbed the bottom of his shirt and began pulling it up his body, exposing more and more of him. Tearing her lips away from his, she yanked it over his head and let it fall to the ground.

Trailing down from her neck Jackson kissed her hungrily, pausing just above her collarbone, which meant it would be hidden under her scrubs. Not that she would need a souvenir to remember this by. A sudden thought occurred to him and he muttered it aloud, “Don’t think anyone noticed.”

Pausing Cristina looked up, “Noticed?”

“Me, coming here.” Jackson answered, his hands hanging limp by his sides. Cristina couldn’t read people all that easily, their feelings, what they were thinking. But with Jackson she found it pretty easy, she knew just how she needed to respond.

“Jackson.” Cristina placed her hands on either side of his face, brought herself up to her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips before saying, “Let them notice.”

A smile grew over his face and he placed his hands on her hips, drawing her ever closer to him, so she was once again pressed up against him. A matching smile appeared on her face, and they both stood still against each other, their chests rising and falling in unison. Jackson’s eyes brushed over her, making her nervous, she felt so self-conscious when he did that, she couldn’t work out what he was thinking.

“You’re so…” Jackson hesitated and Cristina inhaled sharply, “beautiful.” The frown twitching at the corner of her lips disappeared, and their few seconds of silence, just drinking each other in, was over. With her hands still on his face, she kissed him, her lips desperate to be connected to his. Jackson ran his tongue gently against her closed lips, quickly gaining access.

Cristina slid her hands to the front of his jeans and without looking, she began unbuckling his belt, her hands moving quick and skilfully. She smirked as she felt him so full against her fingertips. Long hours had passed, she needed him now, she couldn’t wait much longer. Pushing the two sides of the belt apart, she unbuttoned the top of his jeans and slowly pulled the zip down. As she did she could feel Jackson’s excitement.

Using his body, he pushed her over to the counter by the sink, they both moved quickly, not wanting to waste any time. His hands slid down from her hips to her thighs, to the bottom of her skirt, just above her knee. Pushing it up from the hemline, he brought it up to her waist before lifting her up and sitting her on the counter.

“Jackson” Cristina murmured against him as his hands searched for her undies, gripping hold of them and pulling them down, past her knees, off her ankles and then knowing she wouldn’t want them on the floor, tucking them in his back pocket.

Cristina wrapped her legs around him, pulling him close to her and drawing him for a kiss. She felt his unshaven face against her, she liked how it sometimes tickled and never failed to make her smile. Feeling her smile against his lips, he pushed her into him, his hands on her lower back.

Focussing on his jeans again, she reached the hemline and pushed both layers of clothing down, so they hung around his knees. Usually she would do a more thorough job but she was done waiting.

Her kisses were more urgent now, her tongue duelling with his, wanting more of him in her. Loving the feel of her skin, Jackson slid his arms down her thighs, titling her body slightly upwards, not wanting to wait much longer.

“Jackson.” she begged as he lingered for a moment, her lips did not leave his, but she tried to move towards him, his hands holding her in place.

She moaned against him as he entered her, she had been thinking about this all day, even as she waited in this bathroom for him, imagining all of the possible solutions, in great detail, she didn’t imagine how amazing it would feel.

That was the only encouragement he needed, he moved slowly at first, breathing hard trying to maintain control over his body. Each time he thrust forward again, she moaned against his lips, at first almost silently, so he could just feel the shape that her words made when formed against his lips. Picking up speed, her moans became louder, her hands clawing at his back, no doubt leaving tiny nail marks to be remembered by.

The bathroom itself was silent, the only sound that could be heard were of them panting, their bodies connecting in rapid movements and Cristina moaning, each time getting louder and louder. If anyone was waiting outside that door, there would be no doubt as to what was going on in there.

“Cristina.” Jackson moaned against her as he neared his climax, she tightened herself up around him and moaned once more against his lips, sending him over the edge.

He stopped. His hands still gripping her thighs, her hands holding on to his shoulder blades for dear life, their foreheads resting together, their eyes closed but both knowing smiles spreading over each face.

“Over achiever.” He teased, opening his eyes and taking a step backwards. He looked down, pulled up his jeans, zipped them up and put his belt back on.

“Like you can talk.” She smirked back at him. Extending her hand out to him, he passed her her undies, which she slipped around her ankles and pulled them up her legs.

“I aim to please.” He leant down, picking up first his shirt and then her blouse that were discarded on the floor. As he did, Cristina slid off the counter and pulled her skirt down to a respectable level.

“You certainly do.” She smirked, and caught her blouse that Jackson threw at her. Pulling it over her shoulders, she quickly buttoned it up. Jackson smiled, yanked his shirt over his head and took a step towards her.

She kissed him lightly on the lips, still passionate, but the urgency was gone. Gathering her hair behind her, she quickly tied it up in a neat bun, getting rid of the messy hair effect. “You’ve got a bit of…” she started, licking her fingers, she rubbed them against a lip stick stain to the left of his mouth. “All gone.” she muttered. In doing so, she felt so relaxed with him. As if this was one of the most normal things in life, what she couldn’t believe is how long it took to get to this stage. Not with him specifically, but in the course of her life.

“You head out first, make sure the coast is clear. It’s a chicks bathroom, it might raise suspicions me leaving here.” Jackson said, bending over to pick up his jacket that was left by the door.

“I meant what I said.” Cristina walked towards him, her footsteps silent on the cold tiles. She didn’t really understand why she had wanted to keep this a secret, she didn’t really mean to, it just kind of happened that way. A few people knew already she guessed, but if they walked out of here tomorrow, come next shift, the whole hospital will know.

“I know, but just for now, let’s just keep it for ourselves. Just a bit longer.” Jackson wrapped his arms around her, her head against his chest, breathing him in.

“Okay.” Cristina liked this idea better. It was more fun being secretive, not that it wouldn’t be if people knew. But she didn’t like others knowing her business, not that she cared when they did. And no doubt Alex would lecture either her or Jackson if he found out, depends on whose side he was on.

Kissing Jackson again, she headed towards the door. Unlocking the door, but leaving it shut she turned and said, “I may need a shower after this. My house 2, maybe 3 hours?” she didn’t wait for his reply, just headed out the door, closing it behind her.

Turning away Jackson took a step towards the mirror and examined his reflection. A smile grew on his face, reaching his eyes, that was not a common occurrence until recently. People often wondered why surgeons spent all their time at work, only going home to sleep, eat and read articles about surgeries or experiments, is because they didn’t tend to having something else to look forward to. He did. For so long he didn’t, but now he had Cristina. He noted that there was nothing unusual on his face, nor did his clothes look out of place or inside out. Wiping the smile off his face, he put on an irritated expression, then headed out of the bathroom, his phone is his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First attempt writing a scene like this...   
> Unbeta-ed so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.


	4. Ships Passing In the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still at the bar, can they get out fast enough.... or will they get caught before the really begin...?

The hallway was clear, which was a relief. Jackson wandered down, dramatically hanging up his phone as he came around the corner, to ensure anyone who did see him would assume he had just finished a rather taxing phone conversation based on the sour expression purposely covering his face.

The dart board was empty, Alex and Charles had obviously finished their game while he was otherwise occupied. Shoving his phone back into his pocket he made his way over to Joe, trying to find a spot where he could get through and order a drink. “The usual thanks Joe.” He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a few coins.

“I’ll bring it over.” Joe replied, taking his money and then turning to face another customer. Jackson walked towards their table, he saw Alex with a smug look, meaning that he had won the game but Charles spirit wasn’t dampened in the slightest, they were both laughing away and were surrounded by empty bottles.

“You took your time.” Charles commented as he spotted Jackson nearing the table. He took a final swig of his beer before dropping it on the table and leaning back in his seat, arms crossed.

“My mother called.” Jackson answered, trying to sound annoyed by this fact. He slumped his shoulders to add to the effect, body language was everything.

“How did that go?” Alex asked. He scooted over, pulling his bottle with him, making space for Jackson to sit down beside him.

“Usual stuff.” Jackson replied, dropping down beside him, hands resting on the table for a moment, staring down at them.

“Well… Alex won.” Charles didn’t quite know what to say. He knew that Jackson’s relationship with his mother was difficult, she loved him but she could be overbearing and controlling, which Jackson didn’t appreciate. Figuring it was easier to change the subject, he thought it was best if he got Alex bragging about his victory to take Jackson’s mind off the phone call.

“By like 167 points. It was a breeze. Like I said.” Alex leaned back in his chair, pleased that the attention was on him. Jackson smiled, relieved at the topic change, he didn’t like lying and he really wanted to tell them what he was actually doing, or who he was doing.

‘Let them notice.’ Cristina’s words rung through his mind, but he knew they weren’t ready yet. A few days, weeks maybe. Mere knew, so that would stop her from spinning out of control, or at least, reduce the chances of a full freak out if things got more serious.

“Yeah I bet.” Jackson replied, after a few seconds deep in thought.

“Shit. Is that the time?” Charles glanced down at his watch with a startled look, “I have to go.”

“See you.” Alex replied. Neither of them needed a reason, he said he needed to go, so they didn’t question it. Jackson thought maybe that was why it was so easy keeping this secret, they would accept what he said and ask no further.

“Bye.” Charles grabbed his jacket and stood up. Placing a note on the table, he lifted up an empty beer bottle and rested it on top. He turned and headed out the door.

“Still mad I invited him?” Jackson asked as Charles walked out of the bar, the door clanging shut behind him.

“Nope. It’s good to branch out and whatever.” Alex picked up the note from underneath the bottle, and handed it to Jackson, “Can you go give them this before we forget.”

Jackson nodded, knowing that he meant Joe. “Want another?” he asked as he rose from his seat.

“Nah. I might head home soon, it’s getting late.” Alex flopped his head on to the table, his arms falling beneath his head, to soften the blow. Jackson gave Joe Charles note and paid the rest himself, he was in a generous mood. Ordering two glasses of water, with ice in each he headed back to the table.

“Where’s Yang?” Alex asked scanning the room. Jackson sat down opposite Alex as he rose and looked around the corner in search for Cristina.

“Maybe she left?” Jackson replied, hoping that he wouldn’t give anything away.

“Hmm. Usually she says goodbye first.” Alex slumped back into his chair and began fiddling with his phone. He was thinking of calling Izzie. Either to tell her that he was sorry and he loved her, or to say that she was an ungrateful bitch, he couldn’t quite decide.

“Usually.” Jackson repeated, remembering his plan to find out more about her. Alex began dialling a number, “Are you going to call her?” Jackson asked.

“Yeah. Cristina no. Izzie.” Alex replied bringing the phone up to his ear. Jackson lunged forward, snatched the phone and hung up.

“I’m going to hold onto this.” He said putting into his pocket. Alex pouted but said nothing, he could understand the reason behind his confiscation, he sighed and rested his head on the table. “You’ve been friends with Mere and Cristina for a while.” Jackson remarked.

“The Twisted Sisters.” Alex didn’t look up, his eyes closed and he sighed heavily.

“Like the band?” Jackson asked. Turning his head he saw a waiter approaching their table with two waters and his beer, “Thanks.” He said as they placed the drinks down in front of him.

“That’s what some people call Mere and Cristina.” Alex was shocked that Jackson didn’t know already, sure he was new, but he seemed a bit slow.

“Oh.. that’s not for you.” Jackson pulled the beer away from Alex, placing it out of his reach and pushed a glass of water into his open hand.

“They are inseparable. Tell each other everything. You mess with one, you mess with the other. Cristina may seem like a cut throat bitch at times, but once you get to know her… well she still can be, but she’s also uh… what words… she is hilarious and she cares and stuff, she’s one of my best friends. And Mere seems sweet, she is but she also has a dark side. Dark and twisty or something like that.” Alex spoke fast, pausing randomly, deep in thought. He raised his head from the table as he spoke, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his palms.

“Dark and twisty.” Jackson repeated, unsure of how to take everything thing in, Alex was a good source of information. How could he find stuff out about Cristina without Alex knowing about them two? He would have to devise some way.

“Yeah, that’s what they call it. It used to be George, Mere, Cristina…” he paused for a moment, a look of sadness passing over his face, “Izzie and me. But now there are just four of us. Well kind of you and Charles, but not yet.”

“Oh right. So Mere and Cristina they…” Jackson started, he was looking straight at Alex, his fingers peeling off the sticker on his beer bottle.

“Just drop the Mere. I know you want to find out about Cristina.” Alex cut him off. Even in his drunken stupor he still noticed a small smile appearing on Jackson’s face as he said Cristina, and that wasn’t the first thing he had noticed.

“Huh, that’s not…” Jackson began defending himself, his hands dropping the table, fingers drumming on the wood.

“Don’t even try. I’m not that drunk.” Alex replied. He’d only had 3 or 4 beers, he wasn’t drunk, he was just tired and wanting to go home and crawl into bed, covered by his duvet and self-pity and sleep. Sleep for a week. Or wake up from this nightmare and find Izzie lying beside him, the sunlight on her golden hair and his arm wrapped around her. But he knew he wasn’t asleep. That was never going to happen.

“How?” Jackson gave up trying to defend himself, make up excuses or lie. He desperately wanted to talk to somebody about this, he had so many thoughts, so many feelings, so many questions.  He was glad Alex knew, he didn’t want to tell him, so this worked out quite nicely.

“It’s obvious you like her.” Alex lifted his drink to up to his mouth and took a sip, he muttered to himself, “There goes the hope that it was vodka.”

“Really?” Jackson was baffled, he didn’t think that they were that obvious, but then both of them in an on call room was pretty suspicious, but he didn’t think that anybody noticed that, clearly he was wrong.

“I’m sorry.” Alex placed his hand on Jackson’s arm and held a sympathetic look on his face, “But I am pretty sure that she’s seeing someone.”

Or maybe he didn’t know. He was observant but not observant enough. A look of shock wiped over his face, to Alex it was a look of disbelief, a look of any potential relationship with her been crushed before his eyes. But to Jackson it was shock that Alex had no idea, that their secret was still safe.

Clearing his throat, he took as a sip of his beer as Alex withdrew his hand and took another sip of his water. “Why do you think that?”

“I hear things. I listen, I watch. If you focus on what is left unsaid, you usually learn a lot more than you do when people actually use their words.” Alex looked around the room, almost saddened by the happiness and laughter that surrounded him. He missed Izzie, that was clear and he was trying to move on, but he didn’t have the heart to actually do it.

“Ok…” Jackson thought about what Alex had said, about the unsaid things saying more. What Cristina did was more important than what she said, not as a rule, but usually.  Actions spoke louder than words and all that crap was applicable here. But thing was, her words and actions lined up. She was totally consistent and hot, but that wasn’t what he was thinking about.

Except no longer was he thinking about his relationship with her, he was yearning for her again. It had only been about half an hour and he was desperate for her touch, her kiss. He didn’t just miss kissing her, but being around her. He actively missed her. Shit. This was bad.

“George and I worked it out. I’m pretty sure that George knows who it is, won’t tell me though. It’s not like I would go threaten him or anything, she can take care of herself but after that whole Burke fiasco, I would willingly beat up the next guy who broke her heart. Although don’t tell her I said that.” Alex rambled on, he started to go off on a tangent but his thoughts stopped at the end of that sentence and he stared straight ahead, lost in thought for a second. Shaking his head, he took another sip of his water and turned his attention back to Jackson.

“Burke?” Who was this guy? Obviously he broke Cristina’s heart but he didn’t know who he was. There was Preston Burke, the cardio surgeon who won a Harper Avery and gave the most obnoxiously boring speech. He didn’t think it would be him.

“Cardio-god or something. Complete ass-hat and that’s putting it lightly. They were going to get married, big wedding and everything. I headed off early. Missed the whole big dilemma. Basically it ended up with Mere cutting Cristina out of her wedding dress after returned back to the flat, eyebrowless, after been left at the altar. Nobody wants anything like that to happen again.” Alex was in the mood for sharing it seems, not many details were left out. He hadn’t had much to drink, so he could form well-structured sentences and had a firm grasp on the past. That was good as Jackson could get information out of him but bad as anything he asked, he would remember.

“Eyebrowless.” Jackson managed to get out.

“Yeah. But she hates people knowing, so you don’t know ok? If she ever tells you, look surprised.” Alex stole Jackson’s half empty beer, “Have a nice night. Maybe hook up with someone. As I am about to do, have to move on someday don’t we.”

“See you at work.” Jackson smiled and then he remembered, “Don’t drink and dial.” He said, handing him back his phone. Alex nodded and then sauntered over to a the bar and slid onto a seat next to a lonely looking brunette, who turned and smiled widely at Alex, moving closer to him as he bought her a drink.

It hadn’t been anywhere near three hours but he had to go see Cristina. This was driving him crazy, he couldn’t get her out of his head. When someone was dying, when he was working, not writing in files or lecturing interns but scalpel to skin, sewing bits of flesh together, saving a life, changing a life; he could forgot about her. But as soon as his mind was idle, all those thoughts came flooding back, desires, almost needs.

He stood up, gathered his stuff and checked that he didn’t leave anything behind. He saw that nothing was left of the seat, well at least nothing he could make out. Satisfied, he headed through the crowd towards the door.

Shit. He thought to himself. Cristina would have to wait.

His pager was going wild, looking down he checked it, sighing he knew it was an emergency, no way to wriggle out of this one. _Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long_ he thought running up the steps, he wanted to see her soon.

**...**

_Well that is certainly something I have never done before,_ Cristina thought to herself, _Many imaginative places but never a bar bathroom._ That wasn’t her original plan we she saw Jackson in the bar, it was almost as fate pushed them together, although she didn’t believe in all that crap, whatever the reason, she was glad it happened. She thought that she could tease him a little bit, she thought that she would be able to leave there and then meet up with him later. But seeing him, being with him, she really couldn’t wait.

She never really considered them getting caught, it wasn’t her primary objective in all of this. They hadn’t been caught so far, but that wasn’t to do with any particular precautions, more just luck. Burke and her didn’t get caught at all, except by O’Malley but that took a long while to happen, so her and Jackson were safe.

Thinking about that she realised that maybe they shouldn’t hide. There was always something slightly weird with Burke and her, she didn’t see it in the moment but in hindsight, it was plain to see. If they were honest at the beginning it may have been different, although most of her doubted that would be the case.

Cristina sighed as she heard Arizona and Callie bickering through the wall, _trouble in paradise_ she thought to herself. Shuddering she realised she had to leave. Either their fight would end with Arizona stomping out and Callie ranting to her in Spanish or blaring some form of apparent ‘music’ or in them tearing each other’s clothes off and the walls weren’t exactly sound proof and they were both rather vocal, err, exercisers.

Almost running to the front door, she pulled her coat of the hanger, grabbed her bag off the coffee table and locked the door behind her. Pausing for a moment on the other side of the door, she considered where she would head to. She could meet up with Mere, but she would most likely be occupied at this hour, she could seek solitude somewhere, she could go back to the bar and see how Jackson and Alex were or she could head to work.

 

Within ten minutes of arriving at the hospital she was in scrubs and was on her way down to the OR, whispering soothing words to the patient who was muttering frantically as blood poured out of him, he was very close to been unconscious. Bumping into April Cristina gave her a smile and pulled her with her, this surgery was all hands on deck.

“I didn’t know you were on tonight.” April said looking over at Cristina who stood beside her, deep in thought. They were standing side by side in the scrub room, scrubbing their hands with soap as Cristina stared into the OR in front of them, occupied by only a few people, preparing to save this mans life.

“On call.” Cristina replied, smiling at April before grabbing two masks and handing one to April, before tying up her own. “Ready?”

“Ready.” April said her eyes lighting up, her smile covered by her mask, this was why she became a surgeon, not only the thrill of surgery but been able to save people, and Cristina and her were about to save this mans life she was sure of it.

 

“That was amazing!” April exclaimed as she pulled off her mask and threw it in the bin before washing her hands and smiling over at Cristina.

“Thanks, you were great as well.” Cristina smiled back at her, then looked back down at her hands which she was scrubbing with soap. April and her had never been close, they were friends sort of, they all went out together occasionally and they had worked cases together before, but they never clicked like Mere and her did, or how she felt with George and Alex, and before she left Izzie. April didn’t really have many friends here, she had Reid and some other Mercy Westers, but she could be a bit annoying. As April was friends with Jackson, she felt she needed to get to know her, just another thing that was new to her. Wanting to get to know her, well Jackson’s friends, she had never cared this much.

“I love how you assume I was complimenting you.” April replied, grinning at Cristina as they dried their hands and left the scrub room heading to the elevator together. Cristina looked over at her and raised her eyebrow, causing April to add, “I was but...”

“We should get a drink sometime.” Cristina said, cutting off April as she pushed the button for the elevator and smiled at April.

“Sure.” April muttered, slightly taken aback, she wasn’t really friends with any of the Seattle Grace people yet, and Cristina scared her a little bit to be honest. The doors opened to reveal an empty elevator but a cry rang out from behind them and on rushed a gurney with a bleeding patient and an entourage of surgeons, stealing their elevator.

“We’ll just take the next one.” Cristina said as the doors shut in front of them and she pushed the button again. Crap, it had been at least four or five hours, she completely forgot about Jackson in there. The elevator pinged and the lift doors opened in front of them.

“Hey.” Jackson greeted them as they stepped onto the lift. Cristina smiled at him, think of the devil, she thought.

“Catch any good surgeries?” Cristina asked, as her eyes swept over Jackson who was leaning against the wall, and she was desperately fighting the urge to kiss him.

“Got into surgery just a few minutes after you two… the patient didn’t make it.” Jackson replied, biting down on his lip as Cristina let her hair out and shook it, letting it fall around her shoulders, why did they want to keep it a secret again?

“I need coffee.” April moaned, oblivious to Cristina and Jackson avoiding each others gazes, not wanting to look at each other, for fear they would mount each other in front of April, they just couldn’t help themselves.

“I second that.” Cristina replied, slumping against the side of the elevator and leaning her head back against the cold wall.

“I have to drop this off and check on a few patients, meet you two in the lounge in about half an hour?” April said, looking at Cristina and then Jackson, who both nodded in reply. The elevator doors opened behind her, she smiled at them both before striding down the corridor, disappearing behind the closed doors.

Hidden from view, Cristina wrapped her arms around Jackson’s neck as the doors shut and pulled him close to her, as he pushed her against the wall and kissed her.

“I thought she would never leave.” Cristina muttered against Jackson’s lips, not wanting to stop kissing him. The elevator pinged, separating Cristina and Jackson in an instant. The doors opened up to reveal an old lady in a wheelchair pushed by her husband, three nurses and an intern covered in what smelt like urine. Standing on opposite sides of the elevator, neither looking suspicious, they smiled at the new comers before leaving the elevator as quickly as they could and headed to an on call room to make up for lost time. They had half an hour, they were going to make every second count.

**...**

Ten minutes into their coffee date with April her pager went nuts, she was requested down in the ER, leaving Jackson and Cristina alone in the lounge all by themselves, exactly as they wanted it.

Cristina couldn’t work out whether it was how much she wanted to kiss Jackson or how irritating she found April that sent pure pleasure running through her body as April stood up to leave. She wanted to be friends with her, because Jackson kind of was, but she wasn’t sure she could stomach it. She was just so perky, and well, annoying.

As soon as the door swung shut behind April, Cristina wrapped her fingers around Jackson’s neck and pulled his lips close to hers, hesitating only for a moment to smile at him before locking her lips with his and sending happiness through her body.

“Shit.” Cristina said as she tore her lips away from Jackson’s and checked her pager, she was needed in her patients room, it wasn’t an emergency but she would have to leave soon. Kissing Jackson again, just quickly, like a habit, she stood up and grabbed her coat. “Pizza at mine afterwards?” She asked as she smiled brightly at Jackson.

“Why don’t we go to mine?” Jackson said, leaning back on the couch as he watched Cristina, they hadn’t been to his place yet, this was new territory for them both, she liked keeping it on her own turf but not anymore.

“Really?” Cristina asked raising her eyebrow before grinning, she would finally get to see his place.

“The builders finished the bathroom this morning, running water and everything.” Jackson replied. Another reason they hadn’t been to his house yet was because he had builders working through the day, and the place stank of paint and glue, and there was no shower. But now the bathroom was done and he could finally take her back to his place.

“Plus since you don’t have roommates we won’t have to worry about… being loud…” Cristina added smiling seductively as she sauntered off down the hallway with Jackson’s eyes glued to her.

 

Jackson leant against the railings as he waited. The wind howled past his ears, and the rain was pouring down all around him but he liked it out here. There was no other sound except for nature, it was peaceful, unlike the noises inside the hospital, that he sometimes needed a break from. With the rain running down his face and clouding his eyes he could still see the moon and stars shining above him, staring down at the earth. His collar was turned up, and his jacket zipped up as far as it could go but that didn’t make much of a difference, he was still drenched but he wasn’t shivering.

“You ready to go?” Cristina’s voice came from behind him. Turning to face her, he saw her jacket was zipped only halfway and she was looking up at the sky smiling.

“Yeah.” Jackson replied wrapping his arm around her shoulder and kissing her hello. He couldn’t imagine not being able to do that, already it was becoming a habit to give each other a quick kiss hello or goodbye, and he loved it.

Jackson didn’t live far from the hospital, not as close as Cristina but it wasn’t a long walk. They talked about their last few hours’ work, how surgery went, and Cristina vented about Izzie leaving Alex and what a wreck he was at the moment. Jackson led the way steering Cristina down alleyways and across roads, as the rain continued to pour down on them.

“Home sweet home.” Jackson said as he stopped outside his apartment building, it was dark out but Cristina could still make out the height of the building as Jackson opened the front door and pulled her in, heading towards the lift.

“Nice building.” Cristina remarked, as they stood side by side in the lift, their fingers intertwined as they lift rose to Jackson’s floor.

“Yeah..” Jackson muttered, he wasn’t looking forward to the next part. He loved his apartment, now. But at the beginning he despised it for one main reason, it was never his choice. He was happy with his last place, granted it was a bit small and the electricity was a bit sketchy but he didn’t mind.

Silently he walked out of the lift, Cristina walked alongside him, staring at the walls as they made their way down the corridor. Jackson took a deep breath as he turned his key in the lock and pushed on the door. Stepping inside he took of his soaking coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door before he shut and locked the door behind Cristina who stood a few steps in staring around the room in awe.

“Holy shit.” Was all she could muster. This place was not she was expecting. It was bigger than she had expected, he didn’t have flatmates so she wondered how could he afford a place like this on his own. The carpet was plush and unstained, the wooden floor was shiny and unmarked, everything looked perfect like it had come out of some magazine. Almost everything was only a few months old, and if it was older it didn’t look it.

“I know it’s..” Jackson started watching Cristina’s face carefully, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

“I love it, but uh how do you afford this?” Cristina cut across Jackson, her eyes still staring around the room, trying to see everything, oblivious that Jackson’s gaze was stuck on her.

“I’m an Avery.” Jackson muttered, the smile that he wore just minutes ago now faded completely.

“Yeah, I don’t know what that means.” Cristina replied as she took her coat off and hung it with Jackson’s. Taking off her shoes and socks she spread her toes out and dug her heels into the carpet, she could get used to feel of that, she needed carpet like that at her place.

Jackson didn’t answer for a few minutes, instead he went over the fire and lit it, adding extra wood as he did so. Knowing that  Jackson would talk when he was ready Cristina went over to the kitchen where she silently marvelled at all the stuff he had, she never cooked so didn’t know what any of it was but figured it would help contribute to some good food. She filled the kettle, turned it on and silently searched for coffee and cups while Jackson squatted in front of the fire.

“My grandfather is, well he’s Harper Avery.” Jackson said, as he turned to face Cristina who was staring at the takeout meals covering the fridge.

“The Harper Avery as in…” Cristina replied, turning swiftly and staring at Jackson with wide eyes.

“Yes.” Jackson cut her short, his was tired of hearing the how wonderful that must be, can I meet him speech. He wasn’t sure if Cristina would do that speech but he didn’t want to hear it if she did.

“Okay, and that relates to your fancy apartment how?” Cristina asked deciding to leave the grandfather conversation for another time. Based on Jackson’s tone he didn’t want to talk about it, which explained why he hadn’t mentioned it before. Like Mere maybe his kick ass surgeon family weren’t exactly the best at being a family, and his body language suggested this was a touchy subject for him.

“Because of my mother.” Jackson replied, not moving from where he stood. He didn’t really like talking about them, it wasn’t that he didn’t love them he did, he just hated all the pressure and all the expectation and everything that went along with being an Avery.

“Who is… oh Catherine Avery is your mother.” Cristina replied, remembering the article she had read a few weeks ago on one of her cases.

“Yeah. My family don’t want me working out here they want me to go work at… it doesn’t matter where, it just… when she came to visit she threw a fit at my apartment, which wasn’t altogether uncalled for. And I know it seems childish to move just because my mother wanted me to, but you can’t say no to that woman, and this was before the merger, but just before so it was pretty stressful with people getting fired and well she found three places and I picked this one and well here I am.” Jackson rambled, once he started he couldn’t really stop he just kept talking. When he finally drew breath, he discovered that Cristina was standing by his side, holding his hand and smiling up at him.

“It’s a nice place.” Cristina said, not knowing how else to reply to that. Jackson laughed and her smile grew at the sight of his green eyes lighting up. She loved his laugh, it, like many other things about him, made her so happy.

“Yeah, it’s home. I didn’t think it would be at first, but I was able to buy some stuff I wanted as I used my trust fund to pay for the rent, oh yeah I have a trust fund, but I hate using it.” Jackson said, watching Cristina nervously to see how she would react to everything.

“Well I grew up in Beverly Hills, my mother made several efforts to make me move into another place, she hasn’t seen my current apartment but I doubt she’d like it, because she’s well her.” Cristina replied, her gaze falling on the window as she watched the rain run down the window.

“Family’s huh.” Jackson said, as he watched the wood in the fireplace crackling away. He was glad he told her, she took it better than he thought she would. She was the first person she had told this to in, well ever. The other bits he had dropped along the way to friends and girlfriends, but he had never released so much information to one person at one time.

“Yeah. Now I don’t know about you but I need a shower, care to join me?” Cristina said, slipping her hand out of his and walking back into the kitchen where she took a large sip of her coffee before handing Jackson his.

“Obviously. And afterwards I’ll show you my room.” Jackson replied after sculling half of his. Now that he had said what he needed to say he was aware of how cold he was standing still dripping onto the carpet.

“Comfy mattress?” Cristina asked, placing her empty cup of the bench and smiling at Jackson.

“I think so, and as I’m the only one who has tried it I’m going with yes.” Jackson replied as he walked into the kitchen and put both of their cups into the sink.

“Only?” Cristina replied in surprise. She hadn’t slept with anyone in a while, well before Jackson, but she had never figured he would be in the same boat. Especially since he looked like, well because he looked like Jackson.

“Yeah I…” Jackson said hurriedly, hoping that she would cut him off midstream because he didn’t really know what he was going to say.

“We just finished a family heart to heart and I am freezing here, so lets’ not divulge our previous relationships right now.” Cristina cut Jackson off, making him smile gratefully. This was the Cristina he, well, he liked a lot.

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Jackson replied as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her softly on her lips.

“Now where were we?” Cristina asked as they pulled away, their lips hovering over each other and their foreheads leaning together.

“I believe we were about to get naked and take a shower.” Jackson answered, pushing her slowly out of the kitchen and guiding her to the bathroom as she spoke.

“Sounds perfect, we can check if the showers up to scratch among, other things.” Cristina said as she wrapped her arms around Jackson’s neck, pulled herself up she wrapped her legs around Jackson’s waist and kissed her deeply as he carried her into the bathroom.

**...**

Cristina was woken up by the howling of the wind outside the window, and the rain pattering against the window pane. Barely opening her eyes, she checked the time lucky she still had two hours before Jackson’s alarm was set to go off. Her usually cold feet were been kept warm by Jackson, it hadn’t been long but he already knew so many things about her. Closing her eyes she shifted backwards a little and tightened Jackson’s grip on her, she could feel his hot breath on her neck, and the tickle of his stubble. Smiling as the rain grew heavier she slipped back into sleep, feeling happy, just as she always felt these days.

 

Almost two hours later Cristina lay awake staring at the outside world through the open window, all she could see was the rain running down the window and the stormy grey skies, but she loved it. There was only two minutes left until the alarm went off and she would have to get out of this beautiful bed, which was far more comfortable than Jackson had let on. The one prospect of getting out of bed that was appealing was they could have another shower, to wake themselves up among other things. Lying still beneath the blankets with Jackson’s arm wrapped around her, the only thing she was wearing was one of his shirts, her clothes were left drying by the fire, so that they would be nice and dry by the time they left for work.

The numbers on the clock changed, and it lit up, beeping loudly and stopping abruptly as Jackson leant over Cristina and turned it off with one hit. He groaned before rolling onto his back, opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling for a second before smiling at Cristina who moved with him, lying on his chest as she grinned up at him.

“Morning.” Cristina said as she leant forward and kissed Jackson hello.

“You’re awfully perky for the morning.” Jackson mumbled in reply as he stretched his arms out and wrapped them around Cristina before kissing her again.

“First time for everything I suppose.” Cristina replied before kissing Jackson once more. She loved the taste and feel of his lips against her. Jackson’s hands slid down her back and under his shirt that she was wearing. They had only been asleep for a few hours, but the longing for him to be inside her had not subsided, even after they had finished in the shower and tried out his bed.

The alarm went off again beside them, causing their lips to reluctantly pull apart as Jackson turned the alarm off properly this time and Cristina slipped out of the bed. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him with her, but didn’t make it into the bathroom as he pushed her against the bathroom door, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him deeply.

A few minutes later, she tore her lips away from his, gasped for breath and then said, “Why don’t we continue this in the shower, two birds one stone.”

Jackson didn’t reply, just pressed his lips to hers, slid his hands from her waist to her upper thighs and carried her into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind them with his foot before lowering her to the floor as he turned on the shower.

Pulling Jackson’s shirt over her head and dropping it on the floor Cristina stepped into the shower and let the warm water run down her back as she grinned seductively at Jackson who stepped into the shower and pushed her up against the shower wall without a word.

 

Cristina’s hair was almost dry as she pulled it into a bun as she stood in front of the kettle in the kitchen, two cups stood in front of her as she impatiently waited for the kettle to boil, she needed her coffee before work. Showering with Jackson was the best way to wake up but she had a 15 hour surgery in two hours, she needed coffee. The rain and the wind were muffled by the sound of the radio that Cristina had grown accustomed to, Jackson listened to it every morning while he ate breakfast. Behind her the fridge shut, bowls clinked and the rice bubbles cracked as milk was added.

Placing a steamy cup of coffee in front of Jackson, with just the right amount of milk and sugar, the way he liked it; Cristina dropped down in the chair beside him and dug into her breakfast. They ate in silence as Cristina poured over her notes that Jackson had laid out on while she was drying her hair. Luckily they didn’t get saturated on the walk home, and her clothes were dry now as well. It would be a tad suspicious to show up to work with the same clothes she left it but it would be more suspicious to show up in Jackson’s clothes.

Jackson collected Cristina’s bowl and cup placing them both in the sink before filling both of their thermoses with coffee while Cristina packed away her notes and shoved them back into her bag before slipping on her coat.

“We should come here more often.” Cristina said as Jackson passed her coffee and her eyes swept the apartment giving it one final look as she stepped out of his apartment into the hallway before he shut and locked the door before dropping his arm on her shoulder and pulling her close. The lift was already there when they reached the end of the hallway and they stood in silence next to Jackson’s neighbours, Jackson waiting to reply when they were out on the pavement.

“If my neighbours don’t complain, the walls are thick Cristina but they aren’t that thick.” Jackson replied as he kissed her on the forehead and unwrapped his arm from around her as they headed down the street, settling on holding her hands as their fingers intertwined. It would be easier to separate their fingers if they ran into anyway on the walk to work.

Spending the walk to the hospital firing one quip after another at each other it was clear to anyone who saw them they were very much content with each other’s company, as their loud laughter and huge grins were infectious to everyone they passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love knowing what you think, so feel free to drop my tumblr sideblog 'happyendingsareapowerfulthing' or leave a comment or a kudos here.  
> Unbeta-ed so the errors are all mine.


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